Review by Adam M on December 20, 2025.

This was a very solid album that introduced Ihsahn to the world of solo artistry in fine fashion. It showed that had the chops to produce an interesting side venture to go along with his very compelling Emperor efforts. The result is an eclectic and very saxophone heavy release that has the right amount of progressiveness to be a factor in the black metal genre.

There is a great display of musicianship to be found here with excellent guitar work, horn usage and singing adding up to a great overall musical effort. There is an outstanding range of vocal styles to be found and this makes the album sound bright and colorful. The entire thing is produced nicely and has a poignant sound to it.

The problem with the disc lies in how it isn’t significantly different than his other work and would be possibly surpassed by other albums like Eremita. It is held back by a standard approach that isn’t as progressive as Prometheus by Emperor. Still, this is a very interesting and revolutionary album for the artist as a solo performer. 

All in all, this was a very great album with solid production and memorable tracks like “Undercurrent”. There is very little to improve upon with later albums and this would see the artist merely fine tuning his work instead of greatly improving it. It is a great and powerful piece of progressive black metal.

Rating: 7.9 out of 10