Ultimate Guitar has posted a new installment of David Slavković's in-depth interview with Emperor frontman Ihsahn. Following is an excerpt, with Ihsahn looking back on the early days of the infamous Norwegian black metal scene, and his involvement with it through Emperor.

UG: You said you didn't watch the movie (Lords Of Chaos). Is there any reason why you refused to? Or do you just don't care?

Ihsahn: "I obviously don't care. Yes, I was a part of that first wave with my involvement with Emperor, and I knew people, but I was 16-17. And how interested would you be to see a movie about when you were 16? And I'm not really even that involved. I was never really involved in the scene. It was always (Emperor guitarist) Samoth (Thomas Thormodsæter Haugen) who had kind of the network and the connections and he knew everybody. I was tagging along and making the music.

I still have some good friends from that time. But I've never really been that concerned about the scene. I think I've just been too self-absorbed in my music to actually care. And that's not to be disregarding or anything, it's just the way I work and the way my mind works. The collective mind of these things... To me, black metal has always been very far from being a collective thing. It's been a very individual thing." 

Read more here.

In a previous excerpt with Slavković, Ihsann talked about Emperor, explaining why the band will never present any new music. The band released its fourth and final album, Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise, in October 2001. When asked if Emperor will ever release any new music, Ihsahn was very clear that won't happen.

Ihsahn: "No. And I can explain why as well. This is something that I've been giving a lot of thought, not necessarily because I want to but because I basically get asked that every interview I do...(laughs), Honestly, there's definitely a compliment in that.

Obviously, since I get that question a lot, people hope for a new Emperor record. And in that, I interpret that people have had a strong connection to the music we did in the past. They discovered Emperor music and it resonated with them. And the compliment is that they want more of that; they want to have more of that feeling. But then again, if we were to make another Emperor album, what kind of Emperor album could it be possibly made that would satisfy that need? And, first of all, would anyone like a Norwegian true black metal Emperor album that was made to satisfy a commercial need? That's the first point.

And secondly, how would we go about making an Emperor record like that - where we try to copy something out of the Emperor stuff that people have this connection to and try to fake our way into making a product that would satisfy that? Or would we just continue where we left off and make something based on where we are today musically? In my book, if it was up to me... considering that I did the entire last Emperor album on my own and wrote everything, if it was up to me, it would sound like my solo albums. Just with a different logo."

Read more here.

Ihsahn released the first of two five-track solo EPs on February 14th.

Tracklisting:

"Stridig"
"Nord"
"Telemark"
"Rock And Roll Is Dead"
"Wrathchild"

"Stridig" video: