Maybe Emperor are a parody band. If so, they are operating on a level of irony so far beyond any satire band in the past, that one can only admit to the possibility that they are in fact effective trolls.
I read somewhere that Emperor were considered an Immortal clone. Also that "Filosofem" was a reaction to black metal bands like Emperor and Enslaved not having their own personal sound.
Was "In the Nightside Eclipse" really inspired by Ihsahn's parents forcing him go to bed by 8 PM rather than through reading the work of Tolkien, like most other black metal acts? Ihsahn's compositional talent - or lack thereof - was on full display in later works from Emperor, such as "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk", when Ihsahn became the primary songwriter after Faust and Samoth were both imprisoned.
The Problem With "Symphonic Black Metal"
When it comes to the subgenre of so-called "symphonic black metal", Emperor has always played "good cop" to Dimmu Borgir's "bad cop".
We are supposed to "acknowledge" that Dimmu Borgir went off into goth rock territory, but that Emperor - guilty of the same mainstream panderings as Dimmu Borgir - somehow remains "true", despite playing the exact same music.
As one MetalZone writer puts it succinctly:
Emperor, and its frontman Ihsahn specifically, exemplify the kind of faux-genius who learned their share of party tricks and fancy turns of phrase, but the second they begin talking they start spewing out the same variation of a basic joke over and over again.
Source: About Emperor and "In the Nightside Eclipse" (MetalZone).
A look into "In the Nightside Eclipse
Even their supposedly "based" album, "In the Nightside Eclipse", is full of all the elements that would later be known as metalcore: image over sound, an over-reliance on synths, vocals that follows the rhythm (cadenced nu-metal shouts), the slow whispering "build up" to the breakdowns... in this case using synths to create that Hollywood score soundtrack.
Was "In the Nightside Eclipse" really inspired by Ihsahn's parents forcing him go to bed by 8 PM rather than through reading the work of Tolkien, like most other black metal acts?
Is this to say that Emperor's music is completely worthless? No. There are much worse offenders in black metal. But suffice to say, being "slightly less cringe" than Watain isn't something to brag about.
Just compare the quality of riffs, songwriting and atmosphere from any Emperor album with that of "Hvis Lyset Tar Oss", "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas", "Pure Holocaust" or "Lair of the Swine Gods". They aren't even in the same league.
Ad
> Real Satanic Black Metal: The True History Of Satanism (Best Selling Book)
Return to Voice Metal News.
Tweet