There is a thriving music community that can only be found below the radar of the mainstream. In this community lies an ethos of artistic freedom that allows creative minds to run wild. While some of this vast freedom can garner less than favorable results, it can also spawn some truly innovative and exceptional music.
Norway
’s Peccatum is an example of that freedom. While one half of its two-person lineup, Ihsahn will prove no stranger to underground metal fans as his now disbanded Emperor can be credited as one of the most influential groups in Black Metal history, this husband and wife duo’s established fan base can still be considered relatively small when placed side-by-side with more mainstream metal acts. Couple that with open minded labels that would like to see their artists thrive as musicians in addition to turning a tidy profit and you have the recipe for something worth investigating.
We as rational, thinking beings have an almost instinctual desire to categorize everything. Music is probably the most categorized beast of them all. That is New Age, that is Hip-Hop, that is Metal. And still we’re not satisfied and try to categorize further. That is melodic metal, that is power metal, that is black metal, that is, that is, that is. Ihsahn and Ihriel have sought to confuse the categorists by charming a number of styles into their web, throwing them in the blender that is Lost In Reverie and throwing out the categories. Of course, you can’t totally escape some labeling. The open-ended term most often used, even by the band itself is extreme music, as opposed to extreme metal.
Just last year Ihriel, aka Heidi S. Tveitan’s dark electronic journey, Star Of Ash made positive waves in the primarily male dominated scene. Throughout Lost In Reverie, we hear influence from both Ihriel’s and Ihsahn’s back catalogs. There are obvious black metal moments, most notably on “Parasite My Heart” and the blistering “Black Star”, probably my favorite track of all. But then you have the classical piano and strings on closer “The Banks Of This River Is Night”, the trip-hop beats of “Veils of Blue” and even a jazzy vibe on “In The Bodiless Heart” where we’re introduced to Knut Aalefjaer, who provides drums for the album.
With seven tracks that clock in at just over 50 minutes, Lost In Reverie was never intended for mainstream radio and is best enjoyed when listened to from start to finish. Each track is like a chapter in a complicated, engrossing novel, complete with sudden changes in tempo and mood, not only from song to song but within the songs themselves. “Black Star” begins quietly, with only the hint of the impending aural attack, which crashes in at just under two minutes. Then, following a quiet passage, it picks up the pace with an almost groovy beat. Much credit has to be given to Aalefjaer for his jazz percussion influence as it adds an incredible dynamic to an already adventurous undertaking.
An overload of styles and influences thrown in the blender can often result in a directionless mess. But once in a while it produces something totally unexpected and wholly fascinating. While Peccatum’s roots are without question grounded in the extreme metal underground, Ihriel and Ihsahn are well aware of the wide world of music out there and are not afraid to get their hands a little dirty exploring it.
Track Listing:
Desolate Ever After / In the Bodiless Heart / Parasite My Heart / Veils of Blue / Black Star / Stillness / The Banks of This River is Night.
Pecattum:
Iriel & Ihsahn
Knut Aalefjaer - Drums / Percussion (Tracks 2-5)
PZ and Einar Solberg - Additional Vocals (Tracks 3 and 5)
