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One of the leading figures (arguably the leading figure, at least from a musical perspective) in the history of Norwegian black metal, Ihsahn -- born Vegard Sverre Tveitan, in Notodden, Norway, in 1975 -- is best known as the singer, guitarist, and lead composer of the legendary band Emperor. That band, which would go on to earn Ihsahn and its members the highest of honors in the metal community, was born out of the demise of the group formation of an earlier project entitled Thou Shalt Suffer. That project was formed in 1991, after Ihsahn and Samoth (Tomas Haugen) met at a music conference as teenagers. Thou Shalt Suffer managed to release a handful of demos before Samoth took leave of the group, and Ihsahn set the idea aside as a solo side project. Eventually, the two kindred spirits would work together again in the aforementioned Emperor, a band whose early lineup included Ihsahn, Samoth, Faust (Bård Eithun), and Mortiis. With much of the black metal establishment in Norway (these...