Today it’s a surprise that in Norway there’s an old style black metal band with an early ’90 spirit. Emancer play a minimalist but not primitive form of black metal, with very moderate melodies and the coldness that every Scandinavian band of that form of music needs.
As too much examples the Emancer music is fair but not too good, don’t kick ass like the new-coming march from Finland (Behexen, Azaghal, Mustan Kuun Lapset, Warloghe), the songs have a good standard but lack of visionary power and "enthusiastic evilness", sometimes it’s a bit too grey. After all "Utopian Illusion" is a fair black metal album but too standard and ordinary, there isn’t the madness or the evilness of the best release of the genre. Leaving apart every other topic the greatest problem of that release is a certain immobility and I think that the meaning of black metal is to be in a rapture of fire, a thing that isn’t simple to explain in words.
After the listening of that album I said: "It’s not bad, but I will probably not listen to it very often in the future...". Certainly better of some disgusting albums this could be a first step, but a long way awaits that band.