Arve Isdal (born 28 August 1977, Bergen, Norway), also known as Ice Dale, is a Norwegian musician and producer, best known as lead guitarist for the extreme metal band Enslaved and the hard rock band Audrey Horne. He owns and runs Conclave & Earshot Studio in Bergen together with former-Enslaved band member Herbrand Larsen. In addition to working as a musician and producer, Isdal also teaches music production at Noroff. Isdal has released ten studio albums with Enslaved and seven albums with Audrey Horne. He has won six Norwegian Spellemann Awards: five with Enslaved and one with Audrey Horne.

Career

Isdal was initially influenced by hard rock bands like Kiss, Led Zeppelin, and Deep Purple; and progressive rock bands like Pink Floyd and King Crimson; before discovering heavy metal. He joined his first band, the extreme metal act Malignant Eternal, in the mid 1990s and appeared on their album Alarm in 1999. Isdal joined Enslaved in 2002, and has since appeared on ten studio albums with the band, starting with Below the Lights in 2003. Isdal also became a member of hard rock band Audrey Horne in 2002 and has released seven albums with the band. He toured with former Iron Maiden singer Paul Di'Anno from 2002 to 2003. In 2006, Isdal participated in the black metal supergroup I along with Abbath of Immortal, King from Gorgoroth, and former-Immortal drummer Armagedda. The band released the studio album Between Two Worlds and played their only show at the Hole in the Sky Festival during that year. In 2007, he released a self-titled album with glam metal band Bourbon Flame. With members of Enslaved and the noise rock group Fe-Mail, Isdal formed the side project Trinacria and released the album Travel Now Journey Infinitely in 2008. That same year, he was part of Gorgoroth's live lineup for their summer tour. Along with Enslaved's members, Isdal provided his voice for a 2009 episode of the animated series Metalocalypse. Isdal was a session member for the Ov Hell album The Underworld Regime in 2010, and the following year he played guitar and bass on the Demonaz solo album March of the Norse. In the early 2010s, Isdal recorded an unreleased album with the supergroup Temple Of The Black Moon featuring Cradle of Filth vocalist Dani Filth, guitarist Rob Caggiano of Anthrax and Volbeat, bassist King ov Hell, keyboardist Gerlioz from Dimmu Borgir and drummer John Tempesta of The Cult and White Zombie. In 2012, Gorgoroth's performance at Wacken Open Air in 2008 was released as a live album under the God Seed name. In 2021, Isdal played acoustic guitar on Ivar Bjørnson and Einar Selvik's single "Hardanger". Isdal toured with Abbath and his eponymous band as a bassist in late 2022. He produced and performed bass on Immortal's 2023 studio album War Against All.

Discography

Enslaved

Studio albums

Live albums

Compilation albums

Studio EPs

Audrey Horne

Studio albums

Live albums

Studio EPs

I

Malignant Eternal

Bourbon Flame

Trinacria

Drott

Studio albums

Studio EPs

Hjerteslag

Production and writing credits

Instrumental and vocal contributions