Ihsahn, the frontman and vocalist of the early Norwegian black metal band Emperor, was always the odd one out. Not because he is a latecomer or a poser - unlike trendcore bands like Gorgoroth and Dimmu Borgir, who claim to be "true" for marketing purposes - Ihsahn was actually a part of the Norwegian "Inner Circle" set up by Euronymous.
This doesn't mean that artists who personally knew Euronymous, Dead and the rest are immune to selling out - see Satyricon - or becoming irrelevant drama driven acts - see modern post-Abbath Immortal -, but it at the very least gives the person speaking, in this case Ihsahn, a certain credibility.
A certain decorum that often is lacking amongst more modern, trend hopping bands.
Ihsahn, real name Vegard Tveitan, founded the band Emperor - first as a death metal band "Thou Shalt Suffer" - when he was 17, alongside Tomas "Samoth" Haugen. They were later joined by drummer Trym Torson, but they swapped drummers with the viking black metal band Enslaved in 1993, and Faust ended up joining the band as a permanent drummer.
Ihsahn: "I remember on my way home I was attacked by five people..."
In an interview with author Emile Alquier for the best-selling book "The Heavy Metal Master Class", Ihsahn recounts the early days of black metal, days that were according to him very "dangerous" as he was attacked multiple times.
Ihsahn opens up the interview by explaining how Euronymous, the charismatic frontman of Mayhem, managed to convince so many death metal bands to "switch sides" and start playing black metal.
Ihsahn: When we went to Euronymous' shop, Helvete, in Oslo, everything was black. There were candles, there was black metal playing or other dark music. It was all focused on getting that fix of a profound atmosphere. [...] It wasn't satanic, butt still tapped into this religious type of atmosphere. It was special, without any drugs or anything.
He and Samoth were very vocal in denying the accusations of "satanism" and "devil worship". Like many other artists, they saw these accusations as "slander" made up by "ignorant journalists".
However, he doesn't deny that playing in a black metal band carried a certain "gravitas"... for better or for worse, people would notice you. And sometimes, take action!
"My brother-in-law lost two jobs just because of me..."
Far from downplaying the extremity of the Norwegian black metal scene of the time, Ihsahn explains how even his relatives got fired from their jobs... just for being related to a black metal musician. That's how polarising black metal was at the time.
Ihsahn: My oldest brother-in-law lost two jobs just for knowing me. And we were still teenagers! [...] It was so extreme for people that they lost a lot of perspective
This happened (allegedly) to many black metal musicians. The only exception is Fenriz of Darkthrone, who still works as a postman to this day!
Ihsahn on Faust killing a gay man
If Emperor managed to maintain a low(er) profile compared to some of their peers - Mayhem, Darkthrone and Burzum, notably -, they weren't without controversy themselves.
The drummer for the band Emperor, Faust (originally of Enslaved), was convicted of murder for luring a gay man into the woods and stabbing him 37 times. Ihsahn brushes off this incident as another mundanity of the era - and to be fair, those times were pretty extreme.
Ihsahn: When these things happened, it became part of that sentiment. Even when [Faust] went to jail [for killing a gay man in Oslo], we never went, 'Is this the end of the band?' We were just practically finding ways of keeping the band going. 'Okay, we'll have to trade tapes for a while,' but there was never a question of stopping.
Following Faust's arrest, Emperor re-united with their original drummer Trym Torson. But when Faust was released from jailed in 2003, he rejoined the band.
By the way, Faust was the drummer present on Emperor's most famous recording "In the Nightside Eclipse", so that's why people think of him as the "original" Emperor drummer. But he isn't. The first drummer was Trym Torson, then Faust, then Torson, then Faust again.
Conflicts with Euronymous and others members of the "Inner Circle"
In a previous post on Samoth, we related how Ihsahn was initially rejected by Euronymous and the black metal scene for his "androgynous" dressing style. This is what Samoth, in a very diplomatic way, had to say about the relationship between Ihsahn and other Norwegian black metal musicians in the scene.
Samoth: I met him [Ihsahn] at a blues seminar and he showed up in a denim jacket covered in Iron Maiden patches, so there was an instant connection and that led to us becoming friends and starting to play in various bands... [but] many of the things that brought us together also caused friction with other members of the scene.
This is something Ihsahn himself confirms. He even claimed he was attacked on his way home, and beaten up by five people on one occasion. According to him, these attacks were frequent - and not just directed at him.
Ihsahn: We were attacked. So many of us were attacked. I remember on my way home I was attacked by five people who beat the sh[-]t out of me, and nobody really cared. [...] This was just for wearing those clothes.
Finally, Ihsahn concludes the interview by asking if he still retains contact with Varg Vikernes, after the latter accused him of being a "rat" and a "police informant" in a notorious interview with Kerrang!.
Ihsahn: I didn't have much contact with Varg [since his release]. Once someone has served their sentence, they should be allowed to start over. [...] One thing I do remember from the early days is that he was so pissed off with the trendy death metal scene that he would intentionally record with the cheapest instruments available, for example by using the wrong microphone on purpose. [...] One time he [Varg Vikernes] would even use a plastic bucket as one of his toms just to piss off the critics!
Emperor's aura has largely diminished since the peak days of the 90s, mostly due to the odious Dimmu Borgir ripoff that is "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk", to say nothing of the try-hard "prog metal" of Ihsahn's own side projects. But the man nonetheless remains one of the main players of the early days of Norwegian black metal, and is entitled to his own opinion about what went wrong - and what went right - with the scene.
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