It’s
difficult for me to speak about my all-time preferred band, but fortunately over
the years Emperor have gained a mass-respect for what they made in the early
days and for how they were able to renew their sound without any stagnation
through the years. Emperor are surely the fathers of the symphonic black metal,
their ’93 incredible ep “Emperor” is the first example of how thee
rawness of the primordial black metal can be mixed with the symphonic sound of
keyboard and a moderate and right melodic inspiration. Today “Emperor” has
been released together with the Enslaved ep in a split-cd, and it’s become an
outstanding cult. Already the surprising demo “Wrath of the Tyrant”, before
that ep, showed a band about the explode, with the classic Bathory and Celtic
Frost rawness changed in a still rotting but more mystic, occult and mysterious
form, there wasn’t any sign of the keyboards present on the next work…but
the future was awaiting Ishan and Samoth.
The 7’’ “As the Shadows Rise” is an interesting example of how two songs
of the demo could be transformed by the keyboards use, creating a gloomy,
obscure and magical opus.
The
1995 is a magic and historical year for black metal, the release of the
perfect Emperor’s masterpiece “In the Nightside Eclipse” (vote 10+) have
left its eternal sign, a monumental hymn to the fallen.
When I first listened to the first song of the incredible album, “Into the
Infinity of Thoughts”, suddenly a cold breeze capture me, and today it
haven’t yet left my soul. Every time that I listen to “In the Nightside…”
is like to live another time a magic, dark dream, in a fantasy world of
obscurity. An apocalyptic sky, a temple of doom hidden in a mighty forest, a
research for the inner dark self, the artwork is astonishing, the right opus
to a black opera, to this anthem dedicated to the Lucifer rising, to the
rebellion of human from his holy chains. A lot of symphonic keyboards choruses
together with a wall of black metal guitars worked perfectly to create a
majestic, mystic, occult and mysterious music, in a way that so many bands try
to copy without the same success.
The originality and the overall quality of “In the Nightside Eclipse”
placed Emperor in front of the second wave of black metal (the first was
Thorns, Darkthrone, Mayhem) but the release of the second hymn of the band was
post-dated by several justice problems, by the jailing of three members of the
band (Samoth, Tchort
and Faust) for different reasons. Notwithstanding those problems Emperor came
back with a bloody answer, the ’97 mini-cd “Reverence”, with a new
superb song from the forthcoming album, a never released before gloomy and
dark song and a incredible symphonic remake of the opus “Inno a Satana”.
The
long wait finally comes to an end with the outstanding ’97 album “Anthems
to the Welkin at Dusk” (Vote 10+).
In the back cover of the album Ihsahn and Samoth said that “Emperor performs
Sophisticated Black Metal..”, and they totally hit the point, because it’s
incredible how they were able to bring their sound to a new dimension, more
complex, sometimes psychotic, a deeper version of their debut with more
complex arrangements. It wasn’t yet gone the black coldness and sharpness
but the most accurate use of the keyboard,
still massive but more meditated, was capturing more mature feelings without
losing, the magic and mystic atmosphere of the debut. The excellence of that
composition created another milestone, and the epic mood, always present in
the band’s sound, is as usual more personal and veiled by a sort of internal
suffering, a gloomy vision of this side, not the classic and almost always
ridiculous vision of other acts.
The darkness is dominant, and somewhere a sort of anguished mood is present on
the composition, as in the lyrics, demonstrating the difference between that
approach and the more easy listening solution of the Dimmu Borgir “Enthrone
Darkness…”, differently in “Anthems…” everything for me is much more
serious and deep.
One
year after that milestone a great surprise was awaiting the Emperor’s fans,
the new ‘99 album “IX Equilibrium” (Vote 8,5) changed the
musical and stylistic direction of the band. Ihsahn and Samoth chose for a
cleaner recording, a more metal and in your face approach, leaving apart some
of their black roots for bring more inspiration from the heavy and death metal
tradition.
The majority of the symphonic parts went away for a more moderate use, the
guitars make the main part, as in the “Anthems…” there is an aggressive
and incredible drums performance, but there aren’t the same ingenious
melodies and complex arrangements of the previous opus. Playing much more live
concerts then before Emperor have probably been influenced by their essence,
fortunately the quality of their music can’t go away in a flash, and there
are three, or four, songs of great quality, but the others are under their
possibilities. The distressed spirit isn’t gone and there are still some
very interesting ideas, but for me the true spirit of the band remains in the
previous works.
But after all there are not so many bands that in last two years of the ’90
were able to create better music then that, in the symph. Black Metal cauldron.
Three long years passed before the release of what the band declared to be
their last album: “Prometheus: The Disciple of Fire and Demise” (Vote 9).
Emperor started their musical creation with the objective to create something
new and original, and they don’t stopped that activity, arriving at a point
where they honestly realized to have achieved everything in their
possibilities with the Emperor’s concept. So “Prometheus” is the swan
song, a great album where Ihsahn, this time the only creative mind, mixed the
early Emperor spirit with the heavy-death turn of “IX” and the new
intuitions. Two songs are directly influenced by the first two albums, one is
pure theatrical metal in the vein of Ihsahn’s project Peccatum, and the
others are a cauldron of those influences that I was speaking. There is the
same distressed, suffered mood but some of the magic is gone forever, the
occult feeling of the first two album is too far, but the personal and deep
approach is the trademark that link those different times. Ihsahn spoke of a
final meditation about the sense of the Emperor history, without betray what
made in the past, being proud of that, but looking forward to other dimensions…this
is the meaning of the Emperor’s creation, a rebellion to the chains of
mediocrity.
e
rawness of the primordial black metal can be mixed with the symphonic sound of
keyboard and a moderate and right melodic inspiration. Today “Emperor” has
been released together with the Enslaved ep in a split-cd, and it’s become an
outstanding cult. Already the surprising demo “Wrath of the Tyrant”, before
that ep, showed a band about the explode, with the classic Bathory and Celtic
Frost rawness changed in a still rotting but more mystic, occult and mysterious
form, there wasn’t any sign of the keyboards present on the next work…but
the future was awaiting Ishan and Samoth.
and Faust) for different reasons. Notwithstanding those problems Emperor came
back with a bloody answer, the ’97 mini-cd “Reverence”, with a new
superb song from the forthcoming album, a never released before gloomy and
dark song and a incredible symphonic remake of the opus “Inno a Satana”.
still massive but more meditated, was capturing more mature feelings without
losing, the magic and mystic atmosphere of the debut. The excellence of that
composition created another milestone, and the epic mood, always present in
the band’s sound, is as usual more personal and veiled by a sort of internal
suffering, a gloomy vision of this side, not the classic and almost always
ridiculous vision of other acts.
musical and stylistic direction of the band. Ihsahn and Samoth chose for a
cleaner recording, a more metal and in your face approach, leaving apart some
of their black roots for bring more inspiration from the heavy and death metal
tradition.
