Ihsahn Reveals Which METALLICA Album Changed His Life
Ihsahn recently interview reveals which METALLICA album changed his life and music career. He recalls his music tastes from extreme metal to the 60s pop genre.
The Norwegian metal musician who also last month released his new EP titled ‘Pharos2, a companion piece of sorts to this year’s black metal scene. The latest work also inspired his this years ‘Telemark‘ EP album. Which he now has shares of thought to the list of 10 albums that have changed his life includes some of the most known metal bands like METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN, and more.
Speaking to Metal Hammer Magazine, Ihsahn reveals METALLICA album that has changed his life and says:
He says METALLICA’s 1986 ‘Master of Puppets’ changed his life.
“That’s a landmark, of course. But I was introduced to it kind of blindfolded. I had a cousin who taped it for me on a cassette. It just said: ‘Metallica – Master Of Puppets’. We didn’t have the internet or magazines – I had never seen a picture of Metallica, I didn’t see the artwork. I just had the music, and it was something I’d never heard before.
I listened to it over and over, to the extent that. When I heard some of those songs later in life, I would experience similar smells that I experienced at the time. I went from traditional heavy metal to this. It was around this time, when we were 13, that I started playing in a band with future Emperor guitarist Samoth.”
He also reveals which IRON MAIDEN changed his life too:
“My father took me to see Iron Maiden on the Seventh Tour Of A Seventh Tour when I was 13. I’d been playing guitar since I was 10, I was having fun with it. But when Bruce Dickinson came jumping onstage with the pyros going off, singing “I am he…”, from that moment on I never had a Plan B with my life. The Seventh Son Of A Seventh Son album was a big turning point for me.
It expanded what I knew on guitar – to this day, I always write for twin guitars. And in many ways, it’s a blueprint for me in terms of what an album should be in terms of the way it ebbs and flows, with a long epic song. I remember at the start of black metal, with all the church burnings and everything, Nicko McBrain was asked in an interview, ‘What do you think of these crazy Norwegian black metal guys?’ And he said, ‘What a bunch of wankers!’ or something. I remember thinking, ‘Wow, Nicko McBrain knows who we are.’ I got to shake his hand at the Metal Hammer awards once. Did I tell him who I was? No, I didn’t.”
Ihsahn latest EP ‘Pharos’ out on September 11th, 2020 via Spinefarm Records. You can also pre-order here.
