The Symphonic Black Metal Thread
So for this weekend's top ten list I decided to compile my Top Ten Symphonic Black Metal Releases of All Time. See what you think.
01. Emperor – “In The Nightside Eclipse” (1994)
02. Emperor – “Live Inferno” (2009)
03. Emperor – “Anthems To The Welkin At Disk” (1997)
04. Cradle Of Filth – “V Empire or Dark Faerytales in Phallustein” E.P. (1996)
05. Emperor – “Reverence” E.P. (1997)
06. Cradle Of Filth – “Dusk… & Her Embrace” (1996)
07. Dimmu Borgir – “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia” (2001)
08. Dimmu Borgir – “Death Cult Armageddon” (2003)
09. Samael – “Passage” (1996)
10. Dimmu Borgir – “Spiritual Black Dimensions” (1999)
I must admit to struggling with most symphonic black metal, with the obvious exception of Emperor. Wonder why they were so much better at it than everyone else? Great to see you have Live Inferno rated so highly, Daniel. It is one of the all-time great metal live albums in my opinion. I would have to echo your top three, so here's my somewhat limited top ten, bearing in mind there is a massive drop-off from #3 to #4:
01. Emperor – “In The Nightside Eclipse” (1994)
02. Emperor – “Live Inferno” (2009)
03. Emperor – “Anthems To The Welkin At Disk” (1997)
04. Caladan Brood - "Echoes of Battle" (2013)
05. Emperor - "IX Equilibrium" (1999)
06. Cradle of Filth - "Middian" (2000)
07. Mist of Misery - "Temple of Stilled Voices EP" (2014)
08. Abhor - "Occulta religiO" (2018)
09. Samael - "Passage" (1996)
10. Sigh - "Hangman's Hymn" (2007)
Yes, I'm in complete agreement with you there Sonny. Emperor were absolutely miles ahead of the rest. I also struggle with the subgenre most of the time too.
I'm fascinated to see Caladan Brood at number 4 and yet no Summoning. Is it a matter of the apprentice surpassing the master in your opinion? I haven't heard of Mist of Misery, so prob should check it out.
I make sure to include at least one symphonic black metal track in every North playlist, and not just because it should be represented. I've always been a sucker for it when it's done well. That said, I agree that Emperor have yet to be bettered.
I'm fascinated to see Caladan Brood at number 4 and yet no Summoning. Is it a matter of the apprentice surpassing the master in your opinion? I haven't heard of Mist of Misery, so prob should check it out.
I make sure to include at least one symphonic black metal track in every North playlist, and not just because it should be represented. I've always been a sucker for it when it's done well. That said, I agree that Emperor have yet to be bettered.
Yes, I think it is Ben. Summoning just feel so OTT to me that they rub me up the wrong way. In all fairness I have only listened to a couple of albums for this reason, so they may have produced a classic I haven't heard.
Symphonic black metal is perfectly valid for inclusion in the North playlists as itseems to be quite a popular sub-genre, it just isn't one I personally enjoy massively. It is a great mystery why Emperor were so much better than all the rest though.
Does anyone else know of a sub-genre where one band so far outclasses all the competition or are Emperor a one-off?
Abigail Williams - In the Shadow of a Thousand Suns
Genre: Symphonic Black Metal
This debut album is basically what would happen if a bunch of metalheads discovered real extremities for the first time, decided that Born of Osiris was just as good as Emperor, and then thought they would be the coolest thing on Earth if they decided to mash the two. Well, they didn't end up the coolest thing on Earth, but it's not that bad of a debut.
The most important thing to keep in mind are the veterans these guys got to help with the album, notable a couple of metal veterans: Emperor drummer Tryn, and metal producer James Murphy. High grade celebs. The worst thing to keep in mind is the constant deathcore-infusion, which the symphonics can't quite drown out. The writing itself is pretty good, going into a lot of complex and unpredictable parts while maintaining a constant vibe. But with the album always switching between another blast beat, violins and the bare essentials that symphonic black metal needs, it pretty much becomes 46 minutes of the same thing; it's variations of the same song that gradually get less original and slightly worse overtime. Now this doesn't mean the album eventually sucks. In fact, the first two songs: The World Beyond and Acolytes, are actually very good. Acolytes is almost incredible in a way, largely due to a keen awareness of what extreme metal needs to sound like. Obviously, we have our two veterans to thank for that. But eventually, the album bears the same originality as any Fleshgod Apocalypse album. Thankfully, there's one shining example of great writing on side B: Empyrean. That song really carries some of the Emperor spirit and is one of the heavier tracks. I might even say it's my favorite song on that album.
So, starts of great, finishes decent, has instances of brilliance. Stays brutally heavy throughout, and beautifully produced.
82/100
https://metalinjection.net/news/zoe-federoff-posts-her-contract-with-cradle-of-filth-details-how-little-she-was-paid
Wow! Not a great look for Dani Filth & management.
https://metalinjection.net/news/zoe-federoff-posts-her-contract-with-cradle-of-filth-details-how-little-she-was-paid
Wow! Not a great look for Dani Filth & management.
All that + a collaboration with Ed Sheeran = zero credibility.
Parnassus - "In doloriam gloria" (1995)
Ben picked this debut album up on CD back at around the time of release & seemed to like it quite a bit from memory. I traditionally used to struggle with it though so I haven't returned to it since but I thought I'd give it another chance to impress me this week. Parnassus was a one-man solo project from a Swedish gentleman going by the name of Fredrik Söderlund who you may also know as one half of martial industrial act Puissance. "In doloriam gloria" sees him presenting us with a clear musical direction that's built around some fairly unintimidating & positive sounding keyboards that have been consciously brought right to the front of the mix with the lightning-fast, tremolo-picked guitars & continuous bombardment of high-velocity (not to mention quite repetitive) drum-machine blast-beats being left at the back & sounding pretty thin for the most part. The atmosphere is undeniably centred around fantasy with that Lord of the Rings style feel being pretty easy to buy into. Personally, I find most of this to be far too high on lightweight melodies for my taste so I only really find myself enjoying a couple of the eight tracks on offer, namely the half-decent "Void of All Desires" & the hypnotic instrumental interlude "Cum trist issimo dolore". The rest of the tracklisting is more or less none of my business but I'd be overstating things to call it low quality. It's just designed for a fairly niche audience that I'm not associated with so, on this occasion, I'm gonna have to leave Ben to galivant around his bedroom in his Parnassus undies all on his lonesome (not that I'd ever consider joining him in that undertaking anyway because... let's face it... I don't have a plastic Viking sword & helmet worthy of the exercise). After my initial experiences with this debut, I steered well clear of Söderlund's 1997 sophomore album "Let the Stars Fall & the Kingdom Come" so I have no idea how it compares with "In doloriam gloria".
For fans of Dies Irae, Eldrig & Tartaros.
3/5