EMPEROR — In the Nightside Eclipse (review)

EMPEROR — In the Nightside Eclipse album cover Album · 1994 · Symphonic Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
5/5 ·
Warthur
Emperor's debut album saw the band rocket to the front rank of the black metal pantheon, and is more or less the wellspring for the whole melodic/symphonic black metal movement. Simply put, at the time this came out nobody in the Norwegian black metal scene except for Burzum would touch synthesisers with a bargepole - and ol' Varg Vikernes used them mainly for dark ambient excursions and textures.

Emperor, conversely, use Ihsahn's synths to add a level of symphonic pomp and bombast to their music. It's not quite going down the path of prog rock or progressive metal - when the synths go silent, as on the thunderous climax of Beyond the Vast Great Forest, what's left behind is still primal black metal - but the sense of grandeur and theatricality the synthesisers add, reflected in the over the top fantasy lyrics (including a few contributions from ex-member Mortiis which seem related to the fantasy world he would explore with his early solo albums), take Emperor into entirely novel territory.

Whilst black metal purists may bemoan the way this album paved the way for the likes of Dimmu Borgir and Cradle of Filth to push the black metal genre even further down a symphonic direction, I personally think it's a wonderful album. The only criticism I'd have is that Ihsahn's vocals are almost buried in the mix, but then again there's points where this works remarkably well, creating the impression of a ghostly voice drowned out by the roar of the musical storm the band conjure up. Simply put, this is a cornerstone of black metal which deserves repeated listens and all due reverence.
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