HARDWARES

Man, I know it’s by choice, and it has been so back to the mid-years Emperor days, but enough already with the compressed, screechy, midrange production disaster already. Still, if you can get around that, or rationalize it, or otherwise ascribe to Ihsahn’s bad taste in sound (these drums could fit in a matchbox), what you get here is a progression from his last solo album The Adversary, but closer to Emperor, Vintersorg or Satyricon and even Opeth (see ‘Unhealer’ – and Mikael’s even on it!), less variety, more resolute snobby (apparently and fittingly Nietzchean) extreme metal origami. Forsooth, impressive, dreamy, floaty progressive black metal ideas are everywhere, highlights being ‘Scarab’ with its leaves falling arc motion, and ‘Emancipation’ which could be on the next Saga album, and features our Mangrim using a trio of passion-filled voices. ‘Malediction’ on the other hand is all Emperor. Providing drums on angL is Asgeir Mickelson, with bass duties handled by Lars Norberg, both of Spiral Architect, although it is the former’s Borknagar ties that really help define the album.