Emperor, known to all men of true black metal, these are one of the legends of the old school. Quite a few of the most
talented and spectacular individuals in Norway have participated, and some still do, in making this band what it is today. When blackmetal
wasn't just blackmetal, and when a church in Norway, was one of the most dangerous places to be, and the christians had to sleep with
one eye opened and with their pathetic crosses of weakness under their pillows. As christians were trembling with fear in the frosty winternight never
getting a decent night's sleep, Emperor was roaming the forests and spreading fear and hate. As with these acts of strong belief and the will
to act, not just being silent wannabes as all the crappy bands who exist today, Emperor is highly respected and considered one the few who started it all, and grateful we are.
Only two members are left, who have been in Emperor all the way since the beginning. Ihsahn on guitars, vocals and keyboard,
Samoth also playing guitar, although he did play the drums on their demo.
A bit quiet around Emperor it was in the mid
nineties when Samoth was serving his 2 years in jail for arsonry as he was being punished for the participation in burning down the Skiold church.
This was at the time
when both Ihsahn and Samoth was also one half of the misanthropic Zyklon-B project. Samoth was also involved in Burzum's
Aske EP, seems like the kind of record he would like to participate in. He also was a session bassist of Gorgoroth at the time
of the Pentagram
record. He even was in Satyricon at the time of Dark Medieval Times and played bass and guitar on the recording of
The Shadowthrone. He was also involved in Arcturus, but never felt he belonged
there. A very involved man indeed.
Bård Faust the former drummer
is still in jail serving 14 years for a murder in Lillehammer, which means that he will be out in the year 2007, though he is already due for parole
in 2002. Emperor tried working together with
Hellhammer of Mayhem as a replacement for Faust after he was arrested, but that never worked out.
Mortiis the former bassplayer didn't get along with the other guys; he says himself that didn't really get along with
anyone, so he went his own ways. Forming his solo projects Mortiis and Vond expressing extremely dark and suicidal ambient music.
Tchort did the bass on In The Nightside Eclipse. Jonas Alver, formerly in Dødheimsgard played the bass on some of the later albums,
Ihsahn has taken over
the bassplaying on their latest release and Trym, formerly in Enslaved,
now kicks the hell out of the drums. A new bassplayer Tyr, apparently very talented, answered an add Emperor put in the norwegian magazine
Scream, and was at an audition immediately chosen by the band for this distinguished post. He will be contributing to the recording of their next album.
Latest news is that Trym and Samoth has formed a new band called Zyklon, sureley that makes us all think of something.
Ihsahn is busy with Peccatum together with his wife and her brother, which should be some very technical metal, and his soloproject
Thou Shalt Suffer with his first album Somnium out on Candlelight, continuing in the style of Opus A Satana from the Reverence EP. This should luckily not have any affect upon the existence of Emperor. Not until after their next
album that is, as rumours have, that then Emperor will split up. Let's hope it is just a rumour... It was not a rumour.
Emperor has forever split up, and we all hail the king who is now dead.
Emperor 1997. Trym, Alver, Ihsahn and Samoth
Wrath Of The Tyrant, Demo 1992. Rating: 70
Their only demo, which is very intense and evil and starts out with an instrumental intro on keyboards together with
wardrums. Not as good as the intro on In The Nightside Eclipse and it is somewhat amateurish. The demo as a whole is a bit
tame but with a few highlights like the tracks also featured on the Emperor Mini CD, Witches Sabbath and Wrath Of The Tyrant.
Ihsahn's voice is very rough and angry, and at times it sounds as if
he is drowning in the foam of his own wrath, or maybe he was trying to sound as Satan himself. The demo lacks the
influence of the
keyboards that makes the special Emperor sound soon to be discovered on the Emperor Mini CD one year later. The cover is from the
american bootleg. To see the original demotape cover, click the cover.
Emperor, Candlelight 1993. Rating: 85
Consisting of just 4 tracks, this incredible Mini CD, which was a split cd with Enslaved's Hordanes Land,
was recorded in 1992 in the early stages of the mighty Emperor. It features the propably
greatest of all Emperor songs I Am The Black Wizards. To impress at this level so early on their career could
only mean one thing: that these guys were going to be some of the greatest. This track is so fucking great and classic and
really showed their potential for combining the keyboards with the guitars and creating this devillish atmosphere.
At the end of the song it gets slower and the keyboard takes over the lead and makes the tune very dark, evil, cold and mystic.
This part of I Am The Black Wizards is actually better than that of the version on the album In The Nightside Eclipse.
Cosmic Keys To My Creations & Times is also a great track again showing the harmony with the keyboards and the evil riffs.
It is also on In The Nightside Eclipse in a slightly different version.
Two tracks from the Wrath Of The Tyrant demo are also featured on this MCD, namely Wrath Of The Tyrant and Night
Of The Graveless Souls. These two are not as good as the other two forementioned though.
As The Shadows Rise, Nocturnal Art 1994. Rating: 77
Recorded at the same time as the Emperor MCD in 1992, means that Faust played the drums and Mortiis hadn't left
the band yet, so he was still playing the bass. This EP was put out on Samoth's own recordlabel
Nocturnal Art Productions and was actually it's first release. The label still exists today and is housing bands as Limbonic Art etc.
As The Shadows Rise consists of 3 tracks.
Ancient Queen, Lord Of The Storms and Witches Sabbath which all are better versions than the ones on the Wrath Of The Tyrant demo.
The denominator for all of them is poor demo soundquality, but that doesn't really matter. The songs are still cool.
In The Nightside Eclipse, Candlelight 1994. Rating: 90
This is their most famous album, as it was released in the middle of all the chaos in Norway and just after Samoth was send to jail.
Many say that it is their best album aswell. Besides being the first full-length album of what was to become one of the best metal bands ever, this album is a
milestone in black metal history. Back in 1994 it set new standards within the black metal genre, bringing it into new dimensions of darkness.
The cold production gives a mystical and majestic atmosphere to this album and the lyrics dealing with dark forces and power of nature strengthen
this feeling. Listening to this album is like travelling through Norwegian mountains and forests in the winter and one can really feel the roughness
and hostile beauty of such places. Striking songs like Inno A Satana or I Am The Black Wizard, The Burning Shadows Of Silence and
Cosmic Keys To My Creations & Times are now classics and they will undoubtedly haunt
metal heads forever.
Reverence, Candlelight 1997. Rating: 92
This EP served as a taster of the forthcoming album Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk. It is made out of three songs plus a video for the first track
The Loss And Curse Of Reverence, which also appears on the just-mentioned album. This song is simply one of Emperor's best titles ever
and shows that their musicianship has greatly improved with time. This version of the song is slightly different from the one on the album, the
latter being a bit better produced. The video is quite cool and is basically a mix of the band performing and images of nature, with an overall gloomy atmosphere.
The second track In Longing Spirit is a rather slow and very dark song. Just brilliant. The EP ends with Opus A Satana, which is a magnificent
classical arrangement of the well-known Inno A Satana from In The Nightside Eclipse. We usually hate EPs because they're so expensive and usually don't provide much
worthy music. Sometimes you get the feeling of being ripped off by the label, but Reverence is the exception that makes the rule and this EP is worth every penny.
Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk, Candlelight 1997. Rating: 91
Even though every Emperor album is a must-have by itself, this must be their best effort so far. Powerful, intense, dark, epic, supreme...
You name it. Adjectives are missing to qualify properly Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk. Sophisticated Black Metal Art as they say. The eight songs
composing the album are truly amazing and each of them deserves special attention. The first track Alsvartr (The Oath) starts quietly and progresses towards an epic
ending, introducing the next song and now classic Ye Entrancemperium. This song allows Trym to show his undeniable talent as drummer, which keeps on
throughout the whole album. This is simply one of the most impressive drums performance we've ever heard. Others highlights we could mention are
Thus Spake The Nightspirit, With Strength I Burn and the majestic closing track The Wanderer, but as already mentioned, we consider this album
a masterpiece in its entirety. It takes the atmosphere of In The Nightside Eclipse and adds more variety with great riffs and better arrangements.
However we remember Ihsahn saying in an interview that he was not totally satisfied with the production and we can understand that since more clarity
in the sound would probably be welcome to fully appreciate the complexity of these songs and make them even more powerful. Anyway this stands as a detail
compared to such amazing compositions and one of the best metal albums ever.
IX Equilibrium, Candlelight 1999. Rating: 83
Wow. Samoth (guitar), Ihsahn (guitar, vocal, synth, bass) and Trym (drums) just keep on impressing us.
As one the few great blackmetal bands left still doing the real thing, Emperor continues
pumping our veins full af aggression and adrenaline. Faster than a speeding bullet and with their as always majestic synthmoods underlaying the chaotic
soundpicture, IX Equilibrium is almost as great as Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk. Still this is also a piece that needs a lot of listening to,
as the whole structure and harmony of it is not percepted until it has been listened to numerous times. When reached this point, the record just grows bigger and bigger, and soon you discover new passages
and realises that this great piece of art is so complex that your mind just can't handle all the inputs at once. This is what Emperor is all about.
Modesty. Mature, majestic compositions, and splended talents for the true blackmetal spirit.
Curse you all men!, Decrystallizing Reason, Nonus Aequilibrium and Of Blindness And Subsequent Seers are tracks,
that takes IX Equilbrium into the hall of
fame of yet another impressing Emperor release. Ihsahn's spine chilling screams from the forests unknown
gets a new dimension, as he goes a bit higher than he used to, maybe inspired by Mercyful Fate, as he sounds King Diamond-like at times.
This could very well be the case, as they're also doing a Mercyful Fate cover on the tribute album. Trym perfectly understands to
adjust the pace of the drums to the songs, as he at times gives them a burst of energy at just the right time. It is very cool and professional and makes
you wanna go insane. The strings need no comments, as they are as always the backbone of the songs and leading them in harmony with the synths.
IX Equilibrium is almost as great as Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk, but lacking a bit of diversity.
We can't wait to see what direction they're taking on their next album(s), and what splendid compositions they will continue to deliver for
the pleasure of the humble emperorhorde, that we are. A bit of a change would then be appreciated.
Emperial Live Ceremony, Candlelight 2000. Rating: 95
LA2 London, UK; 14th of April 1999
For people who have had the chance of experiencing Emperor live, this album will undoubtedly bring back good memories,
but people (like us) who haven't will face two opposite feelings when listening to it. First a feeling of relief because such a live album fills a dip,
especially with the video. But when one realises that there is no way this will happen again in reality since Emperor have decided not to perform live anymore,
a strong feeling of frustration arises. Emperial Live Ceremony is without hesitation the best live album I've ever heard and, after many months of listening to
it intensively, I am still speechless about such an impressive performance. Ihsahn controls easily his voice switching between black, death and clean
styles, while playing all kind of rhythm and lead guitars. And his talent takes its entire dimension on the video where one can only admire such dexterity
and musicianship. Samoth performs perfectly while headbanging like a madman and Trym plays drums like I didn't know it was humanly possible.
We had a hard time believing it at first but, once again, watching the video dispelled all our doubts. Finally the two session musicians Tyr
(bass guitar, backing vocals) and Charland Grimloch (keyboard, backing vocals) complete this incredible formation. What is so great about
this album is that the sound is better than it has ever been on any Emperor album and that gives a new dimension to the songs. Some will of course
regret the old times and prefer a rawer production, but I prefer it now because the music becomes more powerful and all the details from each instrument
can be heard and fully appreciated. I even discovered some things that were hardly audible on the older albums. Of course one could point out that some
overdubs have been done in studio and doubt about the original performance, but just have a look at the video and... worship!! The only default about the
video is that it focuses a bit too much on Ihsahn sometimes, otherwise it is a really great support to the music and is strongly advisable. And while we're at
criticising, We might add that not all the songs played that evening are present on the album and there are therefore some gaps between some songs
with fade out and fade in. So the set list is the following: Curse You All Men!, Thus Spake The Nightspirit, I Am The Black Wizards,
An Elegy Of Icaros, With Strength I Burn, Sworn, Night Of The Graveless Souls, Inno A Satana,
Ye Entrancemperium. As one can see songs from all periods are here and when listening to them it becomes obvious how much the band has
musically improved with time. Also, coming with the album, is a data track with Emperor screen savers and an excerpt from the video
(I Am The Black Wizards). Finally the video contains the video from The Loss And Curse Of Reverance as a bonus.
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