Ultimate Guitar has posted the latest installment of David Slavković's in-depth interview with Emperor frontman Ihsahn. Following is an excerpt, with Ihsahn discussing his musical background.

Ihsahn: "Going back and looking at the older Emperor stuff, there's a lot of dissonance and atonal... well, at least not diatonic riffs in there. You can look at the arrangements and you can see some of these very chromatic minor chord progressions. I'm not sure how familiar you are with the music. The song 'Curse You All Men,' there's a passage in there. Basically, the chord progression is moving a minor chord in chromatic steps back and forth. And still, I put a lead melody on that. We've kind of used common tones and managed to twist it into becoming something harmonic. And there's an added melody to it.

Someone in our crew pointed out to me that they did not grow up on this type of music, but has kind of learned to listen to Emperor working on our live shows. And he pointed out that he can understand that people kept listening to it because, even though it's really extreme, there's always a melody and something to grab on to. There's a harmonic element that you can react to in that. So it's more of musical preference. And all due respect to Slayer, and the energy of it, but the solos were, perhaps, never my cup of tea (laughs)."

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: