Don’t Hold Your Breath for New Emperor Music

The odds of there being any new Emperor music in the future are looking pretty grim, as the now mostly dormant band’s frontman Ihsahn has once again shot down the idea. It’s been more than 20 years since Emperor last put out a new album and its members have gone on to do other shit, so it really only makes sense.

However, Ihsahn recently recommitted to his stance on the state of Emperor during a recent interview with GRIMM Gent (as transcribed by Blabbermouth). And while he doesn’t outright say it’ll never happen, it seems like he’s got enough reasons for new Behemoth to not happen.

“It kind of came to a very natural conclusion — in the sense that by the last… I eventually started writing more and more of the material, and by the last record, I did everything. And Prometheus was kind of — I did that very much as a solo thing, and it goes still under the Emperor umbrella. So creatively, when there’s no melt anymore and Samoth and Trym were doing Zyklon — we wanted different things creatively.

“At this point, it doesn’t look like [there will be new Emperor music]. But I’ve said a lot of ‘no’s in the past, also, like, there would never be another Emperor show. And I feel stupid when I say stuff like that and end up doing it anyway, so just to not to open that box, but it’s, like, I won’t make myself into a liar if the situation should change and that the planets will align. With creativity and stuff like that, it’s very, very hard to tell, because it’s a very open, channeling process. But so far I’m very, very… I get to… Yeah, I’ve been releasing full-length albums consistently more or less every second year since I was 16 and continue to do so. So I’m in a very happy place.”

So he doesn’t think new Emperor music will happen, but he’s not going to commit one way or the other to avoid being wrong. That seems like a fair stance to make. Remember, this is the same guy that earlier this year said he was open to an Emperor reunion. But reuniting for a few shows and baring your soul to create a new record is a completely different animal altogether.

You can check out the full interview at GRIMM Gent or down below.