Emperor - Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise
After a long career in the underground metal scene, Emperor has long since established itself as one of the most influential black metal bands in history. After forming in 1991 with Samoth on drums/vocals, Ihsahn on guitars, and Mortiis on bass, the band released the much-coveted Wrath of the Tyrant demo. After quickly getting signed to Candlelight Records, Samoth moved to guitar while Bard Faust dropped onto the drum set. The band went into the studio to record the Emperor/Enslaved CD while Mortiis left the band to be replaced by Tchort. By the time 1993 rolled around, Emperor had gotton much praise from the press and moved back into the studio to record their first full-length album In The Nightside Eclipse. After the alnum's release Emperor had secured themselves as one of the most prominent bands of the genre. Since the band has a ****load of history, I'm going to save all of us from getting tired of this bio crap. Anyone intersted in the complete, detailed history of Emperor can go to [URL=http://www.emperorhorde.com]www.emperorhorde.com[/URL].
And it's music time.
The Eruption - 4.75/5
Starts out sounding dark with various strung instruments providing somewhat of an intro to the song. After about a minute or two, the electric instruments come crashing in. Rapid, low-pitched guitars backed by Trym's blast beats and double bass give a true black metal feel. The bursts of lead guitar go into a chorus of voices untill Ishahn's voice and heavy power chords get really heavy really fast. Soon the two combine into a track that highlights the album. The Eruption has everything from a fast and angry sound to a slow and dark sound, not to mention the insane guitar solo in the middle. I've never felt an urge to
consider skipping this song.
Depraved - 4.75/5
Amazingly, this is just as good as the Eruption. The intro starts with about two minutes of quick guitar parts with heavy double bass and drum rolls. It leads into the blast beats and screaming which a porduce a feel that is similar yet heavier than the preceeding track. The music and singing give a flowing feel, but still seems pretty heavy. The keyboards combined with the guitars and screaming really make me wonder why Emperor is only an underground band (**** closed minded bastards...).
Empty - 4/5
Starts off fast and heavy. Once the keyboards come in and almost take over, the album doesn't seem as though it will ever relent from the amazing sound it has given us so far. Ishahn's voice seems really strange and altered at first, and comes back repeatedly through the entire song. The drumming seems unusually heavy and the screaming is more emphasized than anything heard so far. This songseems pretty up to standars with the other songs so far, but we still have another six songs to go through.
The Prophet - 3.75/5
Very slow considering the previous songs. The Prophet emphsizes grooves and atmosphere mainly. It's pretty low, meaning sound and volume. The vocals are pretty calm untill it seems that chorus of voices comes back once again to give tht familiar flowing feel. Not bad if you're looking for a break from the heaviness.
The Tongue of Fire - 3.25/5
Another slow-paced song, although pretty heavy without the calm feeling from the Prophet. It's got nothing really special about other than the fact that it really focuses on lead guitar more the any previous song. There isn't much singing/screaming here, so overall it just kind of blends in. Not bad, but skipable.
In The Wordless Chamber - 4/5
The heaviness of Emperor is back. Screaming and double bass dominate this song (as with others). Once the soft synth part hits, the song basically becomes unpredictable. After leading back into powerful sound from before, Ihsahn's screaming fades into the drum rolls which form an appropriate end to the song. I'm running out of things to say other than it's a pretty good song.
Grey - 3.75/5
What seemed to stand out at me were the vocals. Ihsahn's screaming from the start seems a little heavier then before (but I'm sure it's just me). The heavy power chord riffs blend well with the keyboard. Virtually the whole song is based around heavy rhythms and screaming, meaning this song is pretty much nothing but heaviness. Not a whole lot of uniquness, but still not real bad.
He Who Sought The Fire - 4/5
The beloved lead guitar and blast beats come back from the dead for this song. He Who Sought The Fire has some cool solos with plenty of double bass to complete the black mix. The sound is reminiscent of the first few tracks which was pretty well needed up to this point. If anything, skip the last few songs
on to this one.
Thorns On My Grave - 4.25/5
Again, fast and heavy right from the get-go. The drums and guitars after the really heavy parts form a flowing feel while after that part the keyboards give more of a dark sound. The screamed vocals of course are always welcome. A song like this will always be a great closing to an album. For one more time, the leads and solos are perfectly placed. Much could be expected from a band like this, and for the most part they delivered.
A kickass metal band. I haven't heard much of emperor's stuff (I would kill for In The Nightside Eclipse), so I was really excited to finally get my hands on a real black metal album. As far as metal goes, Emperor is almost orgasmic. Any true metal head should have some of each type of metal, and at least make Emperor the one black metal CD you get. One thing that did kind of bother me was that the sound quality was pretty bad. Many times I found myself straining to hear the vocals (again maybe just me). but that's a trademark of the genre. A pretty good album overall.
Recommended tracks:
The Eruption
Depraved
Empty
Thorns On My Grave
Overall Rating - 4/5
