PECCATUM

Although this debut STRANGLING FROM WITHIN prognosticates much of what would constitute the average solo album from Ihsahn in the following decade and beyond, there are a few key elements that differentiate the PECCATUM project. While the gnarled progressive black metal riffs and gothic underbelly evoke the following Ihsahn albums, STRANGLING FROM WITHIN is more like a symphonic classical compositional album that is dressed in black metal clothing. The opening "Where Do I Belong" insinuates a less metal experience than anything Emperor churned out and the album is brought more into the realms of opera by Ihriel's high pitched vocal style however it's her one trick pony screeches that bring this album down a few notches.

"The Change" and its rampaging progressive black metal attack charges at a furious tempo with blastbeats and sounds like something that should've been on an Emperor album but the following "The Song Which No Name Carry" displays a very avant-garde swagger that would become one of Ihsahn's signature styles once gone solo. "The Sand Was Made Of Mountains" brings back the symphonic elements with feisty keyboard heft and jittery guitar parts along with a more jazzy drumming style. This tailor made progressive song brings out some of his most knotty workouts before the album slows down a bit and culminating with the more classically infused lengthy "The World Of No Worlds" and "And Pray For Me."

Overall there's some great moments on this album but Ihsahn's bestial black metal vocal style along with Ihriel's airy fairy high wails just don't jive together very well making this beauty and beast approach sound like two beasts duking it out in the gender wars. Compositionally speaking the album flows fairly well but the mix of the black metal and classical elements does feel a bit clumsy at times. Once again, i cannot stress how irritating Ihriel's vocals are on this album but luckily they don't dominate and can be forgotten, well, at least until they leap back into the scheme of things. For being a first offering, this album isn't horrible by any means but it certainly isn't Ihsahn's swan song either especially considering this was released while he was still in Emperor.

I will forever give full credit to Heidi Solberg for creating the Ihsahn of today that I know and love. As much as I can respect and admire his efforts with Emperor, most of them are due to his massive impact on the world of black metal, particularly the melodic and atmospheric brand that I am so fond of. But of the man himself, it took his partnership and relationship with Heidi Solberg (aka Star of Ash, aka 'Ihriel' on this album) to really bring forward anything that would impress me greatly. And as much as Peccatum may now be dead, there is no denying its spirit lives on with Ihsahn solo albums, the ambitious and demented progressive metal sounds of records like After and Das Seelenbrechen being direct offspring of this album, although with less contribution from Heidi, which I honestly miss.

You could always see this project happening. I kind of love the pseudo-romance of husband- and-wife albums, because when two musicians are in a relationship, it just seems logical for them to have some form of musical output that is a pure combination of their styles, regardless of how diverse. And as strange as it seems, Lost In Reverie is just that. This isn't a Blackmore's Night 'quirky and romantic' marriage project, this is a dark beast of intensity, which somehow perfectly balances Ihsahn's dark and twisted black metal past with the experimental and oddly sexual electronica of Ihriel's StarOfAsh albums. This fused together comes out as a sort of twisted pseudo-gothic experi-metal album with equal amounts of intense blast beat-ery and solemn downtempo-inspired soft sections.

I say pseudo-gothic, because although the music here may be far from the gothic rock of The Cure or gothic metal of Type O Negative, there is a strangely gothic vibe to Heidi's vocals here, especially when combined with the dark romanticism of the lyrics. The midsection of 'Parasite My Heart' is one of the best examples of this, with Heidi solemnly singing deep beneath piano ambience, but I feel I'm making the unfortunate mistake of female vocals=gothic metal. This section is an obvious counterpoint to the obviously not-gothic metal intro to this song, with Ihsahn flaring out his characteristic new style of harsh vocal over a flurry of blast beats and tremolo riffs. Ihsahn's new vocals are somewhat of an acquired taste, and if I might say so, I still really haven't acquired it. His harsh vocals are a minor appearance here, most frequently opting for his cleaner baritone croon (also done with a little gothic tinge), which are a bit different from his recent cleans in his solo albums, which have been very reminiscent of Mikael 'kerfeldt. But of his harsh vocals, I can't say I enjoy the way he sounds as if he's straining the entire time he screams. They're not used frequently enough here to annoy me, but Ihsahn's harsh vocals have always been a drawback, and have actually ruined a couple of Leprous songs entirely for me.

And speaking of Leprous, I really must make a brief note here about how this record acts not only as a precursor to the Ihsahn solo albums, but to Leprous themselves. Einar Solberg was only nineteen years old when Lost In Reverie was released, and Leprous was but a blip on the world's metal radar, but he must have certainly been closely involved in it. Witnessing his big sister and one of the greats of the black metal genre produce a record in his presence that was so innovative and new, yet somehow not quite enough, must certainly be part of his devotion to finishing it. No one quite knew how brilliant of a vocalist or composer Einar was back then, but the Leprous sound is definitely imprinted in Lost In Reverie, particularly in the bursts of lush piano and contrasts with dark and demented black metal riffing.

But Lost In Reverie is in no way without its imperfections. Like a lot of Ihsahn's solo records, I often wonder just what the hell they're really trying to portray in sections. Opener 'Desolate Ever After' consists of four distinct sections, alternating between quiet and noisy, but the bridging between them is so meandering and sloppy. Although I do enjoy the industrial-like sampled percussion of the heavier sections, as well as the piano and horror-film soundtrack screeching violin in the softer parts, they really don't meld together all too well, and by the time the second loud section comes back in, I'm half asleep. In my ears, the problems with this record lie not with the duo's songwriting abilities, but more with how they present them.

It's certainly a record ahead of its time, and perfectly blends the eccentric with the melodic in a way that many artists that would come have emulated (and improved on). I'm still really waiting for a new collaboration between these two, because since this, Heidi has more or less kept to StarOfAsh, and Ihsahn has more or less kept to his solo records. Lost In Reverie is somewhat of a landmark album for a lot of modern progressive metal, but is also well written and produced in itself. Although I do prefer a lot of the music it inspired, it is not without its merits.

7.3

Originally written for my Facebook page/blog: www.facebook.com/neoprogisbestprog

The music is black metal inspired without actually being black metal. The black metal feeling is mostly due to Ihsahn´s growling. The pace is generally much slower than on any of Emperor´s output except for The Change which has blast beat sections. There are both classically inspired female singing and more avant garde high pitched screams from Ihsahn´s wife Ihriel, clean vocals from Lord Pz and both black metal rasps and clean singing from Ihsahn. Lots of orchestral keyboard themes swirl around in the compositions making the music symphonic, multilayered and at times complex. There´s some kind of twisted beauty in the music but not the kind of simple melodic beauty that bands like Within Tempation or Nightwish create.

The musicianship is great and once again Ihsahn proves why he is considered one of the most important musicians on the Norwegian metal scene. The vocals from the three members of the band are the main focus on Strangling From Within and all three are great singers. They all have a personal approach to singing.

The production is very good. Clean and sharp. No one is credited here for playing the drums and they might be computer created for all I know. They sound great though.

Strangling From Within is a good experimental metal album. It doesn´t quite fit my taste but I can appreciate the will to experiment and innovate which has always been a dominant part of Ihsahn´s music. 3 stars is well deserved and I can fully understand if others give this one 4 stars. The compositions are of very high quality so it´s a matter of aquired taste for me with this one.

The style of this music is extremely intriguing, and I find it much more approachable than most prog metal. This is very avant-garde stuff! Flowing seamlessly from haunting, dry orchestral sections, to metallic, industrial experimental metal, to very melancholic, sometimes even depressing, beautiful piano segments, constantly with moving vocal work (except maybe for the upper-beat sections where Ihsahn does his trademark screech...something I am certainly not fond of). The music isn't actually overly rough or heavy, since it's his band's roots that are firmly in the black metal genre, and not necessarily their branches, moreover the traces of it in their sound are incredibly minimal but the compositional style is woven with a metal-esque flavour.

The album is wonderfully produced, with top-notch sound quality and sound effects, beautiful playing, gorgeous compositions, haunting and ethereal gripping atmospheres, with a constant unique spice. This is one of the finest avant-metal albums that I've crossed and I highly recommend it to fans of that pious subgenre.

I'm not going to go into each song cause Vaxis has done this really well in his review. Anyway this is an ep with three songs and it only gives you an idea of Peccatum's music. However, it's a pleasant listen.

Not much progressive elements inside all that, however this is a highly recommended cd to all anathema fans and people who enjoy gothic music generally (not saying that anathema is gothic. far from it...) . To a prog-metal fan I would say it's not what he would expect from the categorization. To me, this ep is really promising but not essential. Three stars!

It is not a particularly accesible album, common complaints being that it is too operatic and bizarre to please many fans of Ihsahn's work with Emperor and too sinister for fans of more mellow prog metal. That said, it is a shockingly unique, sophisticated composition showcasing the abilities of one of the finest minds in avantgarde metal and i suspect that the reason many find the album so inaccesible is because there is nothing else quite like it. Seven years after its release, it is still ahead of its time.

The musicianship and composition is first class, though some may bring the tone into question as matter of personal taste. The strings have a chilling baroque tone and Ihriel's operatic vocals and occasional screams in particular add a shrill sharpness to the music that may take a few listens to begin to appreciate.

What to rate this album really depends on who i am recommening it to. It is an aquired taste perfect for fans of avantgarde metal, or fans of extreme progressive metal looking for something new with a strong classical element. It has the artistic "something extra" such listeners seek, and would highly recommend it as a masterpiece to that select audience. However, it is just a bit too much an aquired taste for me to tag a 5-star rating on to it, so i'll give it a 4 and let the reader scale that up or down in their minds depending on how well such a style of music appeals to their personal tastes.