Ihsahn’s 10 Favorite Non-Metal Artists

His later work took a deep dive into the avant-garde, still guided by the unmistakeable baritone voice.

However, it is his early solo records I return to for that wonderful blend of band, experimental and sometimes dissonant orchestration and that crooner voice painting cinematic scenes with dark and melancholic lyrics.

Awe-inspiring and frightening. None other can conjure up such dark and overpowering atmospheres with a voice.

What the rest of us try to express through blast beats, guitars and orchestras, she executes with screams alone.

Whether through the frantic and schizophrenic rants of Litanies of Satan and Plague Mass, or through classics such as “I Put a Spell on You” or “Gloomy Sunday”, her expression is always pure, unfiltered and captivating.

After releasing OK Computer, arguably the best indie rock album of all time, Radiohead turned around and went electronic for Kid A and Amnesiac.

Utterly original, ever changing, but always sounding like and being Radiohead. Integrity!

A genre-defining composer with an incredible list of movies he’s scored — Alien, Basic Instinct and Star Trek.

The Omen remains one of my all-time favorite soundtracks.

We all probably know him best for his amazing work with Alfred Hitchcock, or perhaps from the whistling re-introduction by Quentin Tarrantino. But then you compare this to Taxi Driver and it becomes evident that he too had an extensive musical range and imagination.

Also, such precision…even in the shortest of motives.

Norwegian pop pioneers with amazing songwriting capabilities, from a time when pop music craftsmanship extended beyond an eight-bar loop.

They defied the Norwegian “tall poppy syndrome” and conquered the world!

Another Norwegian trio, this time of the jazzy kind.

I keep coming back to their live album with The Norwegian Radio Orchestra. It’s full of old jazz classics, arranged with such variety and richness and stellar performances.

Sampled, looped and twisted, yet so immensely crusty and organic.

Trip-hop/jazz vibes with Beth Gibbons’ vocals pulling you into a film noir-esque melancholic nightmare. Unique.

J.S. Bach’s genius goes without saying, but the massive body of work and being so profoundly ahead of his time too, pushing the envelope of harmony and composition.

Mind-blowing!

This Estonian composer is just in a league of his own. His tintinnabuli compositions range from whispering piano to choir, orchestra and soloist virtuosity.

It is like listening to music of an elevated dimension.