Ildjarn 1992-1995

Ildjarn of course is probably best known for his work with Thou Shalt Suffer, a death metal band that turned into Emperor. However Ildjarn has nothing to do with Emperor musically, his music is feral, noisy and often painful to listen to, and yet it is a perfect mixture of fast hardcore beats and extremely atmospheric music, which creates atmosphere in a sense of the noise space of the music itself. Difficult to explain, but if you listen and aren't horrified about the sound perhaps you will find out for yourself.

Ildjarn's many releases are very difficult to find, and most featured at least 20 songs. All songs were recorded on the four-track tape machine that the Thou Shalt Suffer demo was recorded on and also the demo album Wrath of the Tyrant by Emperor. Indeed, sometimes you can hear the same vocal effect on Ildjarn's vocals that was all over Ihsahn's vocals on that demo. This release is just from 3 years of the project's existence, yet features 28 songs, which is only a fraction of the total songs that Ildjarn recorded at that time. As such it is difficult to tell if it is the "best of" all the releases from that time, but it gives a very full representation of the band's work, and being one of the only easily available releases (except Strength and Anger) it will have to do.

This music is the feral dark heart of black metal, it features everything people hold dear about black metal in a concentrated form. This is almost so pure that many can't even listen to it, much like Darkthrone's Transilvanian Hunger, an album in which you will hear many similarities. Ildjarn is perhaps one of the most misanthropic black metal souls, never being a part of the "black metal scene", but he is also perhaps one of the ones you can most admire for his stands against human nature and for the animal and natural world (he is a Vegan aparently).

The music itself as I have said is feral primal music, bringing to mind the dark subterranean parts of our minds, the parts that are supposed to take over when we turn to Werewolves. Yes, much like Burzum's music or Ulver's Nattens Madrigal, this album brings to mind the Wargs or the dark black Norwegian nights spent in terror. Ildjarn's music is only for those who can handle it though. If the aforementioned releases scare you and are hard for you to listen to, this will not be anything you should be interested in. If noise is your forte and you love real true black metal your collection is not even close to being complete without at least one Ildjarn album, and you can't really do wrong with this.

Track Listing
1: Intro
2: Dark December
3: Kronet
4: Strength & Anger 1
5: Himmelen Svartner
6: Der Det Skjulte Lever
7: Whispering Breeze
8: Inanimate
9: Morket Slynger Seg
10: Skogrommet
11: Blackened Might
12: Strength & Anger 2
13: Dead Years
14: Taakeheim
15: Chill of the Night (Returning)
16: Strength & Anger 4
17: Skogssvinet
18: Visions of the Earth (2nd Returning)
19: The Blade Flares in Red Light
20: Utsyn 3
21: Svarte Fjell
22: Away with the Dawn
23: Utsyn 6
24: Clashing of Swords
25: Et Glimt
26: Cold and Waste
27: Tildekket og Kald
28: Krigere