In the halls of black metal, there are few bands more iconic and influential than Emperor. Fronted by Ihsahn since its inception, the band has been largely dormant up until a couple years ago when they hit the road for the first time in 15 years. Hell, they haven’t released a new album since 2001 — but is there really a world where that changes and we get something new?
If a recent interview with Metal Global (as transcribed by Blabbermouth), it sounds like Ihsahn isn’t taking the possibility of a new album completely off the table. In fact, it sounds like all that’s really stopping the band from penning new music and putting it out into the world is an interest to do so from the band.
“If stars align, and we have been going with the live stuff for a long, long time, but if we were to make something, I think that the reason behind it would have to be right.”
I mean, he’s the same guy that said that there “would never be anymore Emperor live shows” and we saw how that turned out, so… maybe that’ll happen??
That sounds like a sensible thought process, sure. But for long-time fans that have been clamoring or more black metal excellence, it might be a little cold comfort to the fact that it’s been almost a quarter of a century since a new album was released.
When speaking about the fan base that’s stuck with Emperor all these years — especially after spending so many years away from even playing live shows — Ihsahn said most people remained loyal to the band because they “know it’s for real.”
“It’s not made for some kind of commercial aspect or some kind of entrepreneurial idea. It’s just music for the sake of music. Of course there are lots of financial motivations to do such a thing, but then again, I don’t think any of us would want that to be a motivation for us doing what we do”