This is Emperor's portion of the EP known as Hordanes Land. It has two songs that also appear on in the Nightside Eclipse. This album is not as keyboard friendly as their newer cds. The sound is raw black metal almost like Darkthrone or Burzum.
Line Up:
Ihsahn-Guitars, Vocals, Synths
Samoth-Drums
Mortiis-Bass
The Review:
I Am The Black Wizards
If you know Emperor then chances are you know this song. If you don't know Emperor and are getting into them this song is great for getting into them.
Unlike the Nightside version it is a lot more distorted and Ihsahns voice sounds like some insane instrument more than it does like singing. It starts of with only guitar but soon the drums come in and the song starts up. One of the best from Emperor it has melodies at high speeds, tremelo, picking and drumming that isn't just constant double bass.
5/5
Wrath of the Tyrant
The guitars start with a real evil riff and then the keyboard comes in and creates an eiree sort of vibe. This lasts for about half a minute and after a short pause a riff in the style of darkthrone starts up. Ihsahns vocals are real cool in this one and he gets some crazy noises out of his throat. If you get a chance to read the lyrics to this whole cd you'll probably see they are not your ordinary Black Metal lyrics.
3.5/5
Night of the Graveless Souls
The shortest song on the CD, it is also the fastest. It's the closest Samoth gets to actually doing to real blastbeats on this CD. (Remember he usually plays guitar so cut him some slack.) Keyboards on theis song are great, probably the most keyboard encorperating song on the CD. This is really basic, crude, repetitive but extremely enjoyable.
4.0/5
Cosmic Keys to My Creations and Times
First off, the song is slowere than on the Nightside CD but that is OK. You still have the great intro, the atmospheric verse, and even though there is no real chorus the other riffs fit perfectly and just add to the aura. The whole song kind of has a rveverence for the nightsky that is extremely captivating. Beautifully composed, tremelo picked madness and one of the greatest songs ever written.
5/5
Overall this gets 3.5/5
If you the more technical stuff from emperor like Anthems and IX Equilibrium you may not like this (You should still give it a try though) Fans of the more rudimentary bands like Darkthrone, 1349, and Gorgoroth will definately like this though.
