EMPEROR — Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise (review)

EMPEROR — Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise album cover Album · 2001 · Symphonic Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
2/5 ·
Warthur
I guess part of the reason Prometheus gets such a mixed reception from Emperor fans is that, listening to it, it eventually becomes clear that Emperor weren't actually especially interested in sounding like Emperor any more. Whilst IX Equilibrium did at points recall the sound of Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk and In the Nightside Eclipse, here we're on Ihsahn's experimental trip and the rest of the band are just along for the ride.

And Ihsahn himself seems to have concocted the project mainly to officially announce the demise of the band. Lyrically, the piece seems to be a concept album about the Emperor (you know, the one who's regularly the focus of the band's lyrics) realising that all he'd been doing previously was rather empty and meaningless, drifting around a bit, and then dying. Musically, things are just as half-hearted and reluctant as the concept implies, the band Emperor plodding to death along with the metaphorical Emperor. It's an interesting way to bring a band's career to a close, but I have to say that a better way to draw a line under the group's recording efforts is to just stop recording and let the band's classic earlier albums stand on their own.

As far as experimental extreme metal goes, there's far better releases out there (including some by Ihsahn himself), so this one's well within the Collectors Only bracket.
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