Customer Reviews

Strangling from Within

5 star:		(0)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Will Isahn ever stop? How many people in music today can hold a candle to his creativity, his ability to create atmosphere, and his pure musical talent?
The word "genius" is used far, far too much today, but here it applies perfectly.
Completley ignored by the mainstream, and even plenty of people who thionk they're in the know, everything he does seems to be utterly progressive. Beyond black metal, beyond metal, beyond anything, really.
When put up against cartoony-scary bands like Cradle of Filth, you really see the art here. Makes mainstream metal (linkin park, nickleback, marylin manson, whatever) look a bit silly really.
It gets a four, well, because that is what it deserves. But considering that it's a little side project, and it's still better than ANYTHING on mtv2 or kerrang or whatever.
It's not world beating like the "Prometheus:the Discipline of Fire and Demise" album, but it's just so far ahead of, well, everything really. Some people will moan, and say it's not raw, or not true to black metal. Just wait another 50 years for everything else to catch up to Isahn.
There are a few others who are as good - you just have to look.

Why does Ihsahn make such cerebral and intense music?!

This music is nearly as twisted as Emperors - Prometheus! Although I still like Prometheus quite a bit more and would give it 10 stars had I the ability. Its extremely hard to place this album because its illusive styles contrast from psychedellic darkness to further psychedellic darkness with intense neo-classical operatic and black metal vocals and symphonic arrangements. While Medieval, Viking, and Opera romanitcisms have passed with fancy a plenty with bands from Therion and Lacrimosa to Enslaved and Einherjer, Ihsahn and any of his projects include the irratic quick time psychedellic riffing and arrangements. Black metal and its subgenres rarely have seen a more mind bashing assault then that of Ihsahn in any of the bands he takes lead in.

Like the other reviews I will agree Ihsahns wifes opera vocal style is lacking in deffinition to a noteable degree and therefore this album voids 5 stars. Other then that this album is mostly perks and great evolutionary metal approaches that achieve a height that would make Satan teary eyed with happiness as a hellacious twisted circus of mind blowing tunes plays their course.

Now if you expect this to sound like Emperor because Ihsahn is part of it, you will be very disappointed. This is a very unique musical experience, it has a very atmospheric sound with strong black metal influences, with both clean and black-type vocals. All in all an excellent album, I highly recommend it if you like atmospheric metal.

This group is comprised of the lead singer of the supreme black metal band Emporer, his wife and brother-in-law. The music is very different from Emporer. More symphonic and melodic in general, with quite unusual vocals, alternating in style between shrieking (black metal) and quasi-operatic. The female vocalist is interesting, and while not possessing the strongest voice, her vocals are captivating. Strong compositions (dark and brooding) and very well-played. If you like Therion, the Gathering or even Cradle of Filth, you will enjoy this.

Ihsahn (Emperor, Thou Shalt Suffer), his wife Ihriel and her brother, Lord Pz (Source of Tide) make up Peccatum. Although they themselves have serious philosophical problems (and it shows in their lyrics) Peccatum are awesome. Ihsahn plays all instruments and writes all music on this recording while Ihriel composes the lyrics and Lord Pz just kind of does a few vocals here and there. It is more technical than Emperor or Source of Tide and it sounds like a continuation of what Ihsahn was doing on IX Equilibrium, the 1999 Emperor album. It sounds like a drum machine is used because the beats are so regular and so technical Ihsahn could not be playing them himself. That's ok with me. They will never play live so it doesnt matter. There are many "progressive" (to use an amorphous adjective if there ever was one) harmonies but not like the happy sounding ones of cheesy bands such as Dream Theater. These are strangely demonic and they keep it interesting. Ihriel is not a strong singer although she tries to sound like it. The girl from Tristania with the wispy voice would be more appropriate, and more appropriate still would be something like Tarja from Nightwish. Anyway, the album is excellent and you keep discovering things in it that you never heard before. buy it.

I am a big Emperor fan and bought this because Ihsahn is the lead singer..Ihsahn's wife, Ihriel, has vocal parts also in this..but she actually "destroys" any kind of music on this CD with her ~shRIEking~ "off-key" screams which are really quite annoying. Emperor is great but this CD is total trash!