(I want to preface this by saying that I talk about the crimes the members of this band have been arrested for, I do not agree with them or support their actions in any way I just like the music they have put out)
Emperor, the symphonic black metal band from Notodden, Vestfold og Telemark in Norway, formed 1991 and remains active today. For this album review I chose their first full length album, “In The Nightside Eclipse” released in 1994, before their first full length they released a demo titled “Wrath of the Tyrant” in 1992, a Self-titled EP in 1993, and a split with the Progressive black metal band Enslaved from Haugesund, Rogaland also from Norway, in 1993. The lineup for “In The Nightside Eclipse” album included Ihsahn (Vegard Sverre Tveitan) on Vocals, Guitars, Keyboards, songwriting on tracks 1-9, and lyrics on tracks 3, 6, 7, 9. Samoth (Tomas Thormodsæter Haugen) on guitars and songwriting on tracks 1-6, 8, 9, and lyrics on tracks 2, 3, 5, and 6. Tchort (Terje Vik Schei) on bass for all tracks and Faust (Bård Guldvik Eithun) on drums for all tracks.
This album was recorded during the seventh full moon in 1993 at Grieghallen Studios in Bergen, Norway.
Emperor was known as one of the most infamous Norwegian black metal bands during the early and mid 1990s. Samoth was jailed for 16 months for taking part in church burnings with Varg Vikernes of the solo black metal project Burzum along with other members of the Norwegian black metal scene. Drummer Faust was jailed for church burning and the stabbing and murder of a homosexual man named Magne Andressen (May he rest in peace) in 1992, he was never suspected of it until two years later when he was arrested in 1994.
The tracklist for this album has 9 songs and a total running time of 48 minutes and 29 seconds.
Tracklist:
- Intro – 00:52 (Instrumental)
- Into the Infinity of Thoughts – 08:14
- The Burning Shadows of Silence – 05:36
- Cosmic Keys to My Creations & Times – 06:06
- Beyond the Great Vast Forest – 06:01
- Towards the Pantheon – 05:57
- The Majesty of the Nightsky – 04:54
- I Am the Black Wizards – 06:01
- Inno a Satana – 04:48
Both “Cosmic Keys to My Creations & Times” and “I Am the Black Wizards” are re-recorded versions of songs that originally appeared on the previously mentioned self titled EP of 1993. “Beyond the Great Vast Forest” is a re-worked/re-recorded version of the song “My Empire’s Doom” from the also previously mentioned 1992 “Wrath of the Tyrant” Demo with new lyrics.
My favorite song from this album has to be “The Majesty of the Nightsky” because of the guitar riffs and harsh vocals. Overall I have to give this classic album a 10/10 because of the new elements, like the usage of synths and harmonic vocals in the background, that this album introduced to the whole genre of black metal.
