The Adversary (Ihsahn album)
Script error: No such module "For". Script error: No such module "Unsubst-infobox".Script error: No such module "Check for conflicting parameters". Template:Album ratings The Adversary is the debut studio album by Norwegian black metal musician Ihsahn. Released on 10 April 2006, it is the first in a conceptual trilogy of albums including angL and After.[1] It features a guest vocal appearance by Ulver's Garm. The album has been noted for its stylistic diversity, encompassing extreme metal as well as progressive and classic metal influences.[2][3][4]
In 2024, Loudwire elected it as one of the 11 best progressive metal debut albums.[5]
Background
The album combines various extreme metal genres with progressive and classic metal in the vein of Judas Priest.[2] According to Matt Mills of Metal Hammer: "[Ihsahn] intentionally regressed to his earliest influences: NWOBHM licks, symphonic swells and black metal tremolo picking alongside his seething screams. From that foundation, he built all kinds of weird shit."[6] Ihsahn himself described The Adversary as "all over the place, with me trying out other subgenres in metal that I didn’t really have a go at before."[3] He further explained of the album's diversity that it had its origins in a certain nostalgia:
Ihsahn described his intention with the production as realizing "a more sparse sound picture, inspired by more '70s metal. I also mixed that album in an analog studio with equipment from the '50s, '60s and '70s and didn't overdub any guitars."[3]
Several songs quote Friedrich Nietzsche's Thus Spoke Zarathustra, which Ihsahn has cited this as a key influence "not just because of the philosophical themes, but also the beauty of the language, the whole kind of religious undertone in this very ungodly philosophy."[2]
Track listing
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Personnel
Additional musicians
- Asgeir Mickelson – drums, drum engineering and editing, vocal engineering on track "Homecoming"
- Garm – guest vocals on track "Homecoming"[7]
Additional personnel
- Tore Ylwizaker – vocal engineering on track "Homecoming"
- Tom Kvålsvoll – mastering
References
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