Emperor - In the Nightside Eclipse (1994)^{Release ID: 312}

Complex and majestic symphonic black metal from the mighty Emperor. A definitive moment in metal music.

In the Nightside Eclipse was recorded in July 1993. Emperor had already made a name for themselves by this time, and miraculously done so purely through their musical output alone. They would soon become far more famous for all the wrong reasons, but it was their Wrath of the Tyrant demo and split album with Enslaved that were causing waves of excitement amongst a growing legion of black metal fans. The line-up had only one change between the self titled EP and In the Nightside Eclipse, with bassist Mortiis leaving due to an apparent loss of interest in metal to be replaced by Terje Vik Schei (aka Tchort). Tchort had previously played guitar for Green Carnation back when they were a death metal band in the early 90s before spending two years in prison for burglary, knife assault, and grave desecration. One can only assume that Samoth and Faust found a kindred spirit in Tchort, as the two of them were currently unidentified fugitives for crimes they committed in 1992 (Samoth burnt down churches along with Varg Vikernes from Burzum and Faust murdered a man for making homosexual advances towards him). Both of these men would eventually be convicted of these crimes, but not until they’d played their roles in one of extreme metal’s finest moments.

In the Nightside Eclipse is an astounding, landmark black metal album. Not content to simply replicate the likes of Dark Throne and Mayhem, Emperor took black metal in a whole new direction. They almost single-handedly created the symphonic black metal subgenre and did so with a level of complexity all the imitators can only dream of. From a purely metal perspective, the album is chock full of fantastic full throttle drumming, mesmerising majestic riffs and violently magnificent vocals. With these aspects alone, I'm pretty sure Emperor would have been onto a winner, but it's the symphonic element that takes their music far and above your average black metal band. In the Nightside Eclipse is like a macabre opera of dark genius, with swirling backdrops and rousing gothic compositions. The sheer wall of noise effect can initially be quite confronting, but once it sinks its claws into you, there's no escaping the grandiose brilliance that is Emperor. It’s the type of album where you stop focussing on individual instruments within seconds and let yourself get swept away by the all-encompassing whole. The riffs often don't even get front line attention and play second fiddle to the keyboards, but Emperor knew exactly when to give them centre stage with the symphonic elements intermittently withdrawing to allow the guitars to shine through.

If you listen to In the Nightside Eclipse and concentrate on the symphonic aspect alone it’s not particularly impressive from a musical point of view. Fairly simple B grade gothic horror movie ooooohs and aaaaahs kick in intermittently that could so easily have come off as cheesy and weak in someone else’s hands. It’s due to Ihsahn and Samoth’s song crafting skills that these effects don’t just work, but bestow already fantastic black metal with a huge dose of epic. Ihsahn deserves credit for his vocal performance also as his effective spoken word and full throated, high pitched black metal shrieks give the impression of complete conviction and malice. I am the Black Wizards and Cosmic Keys to My Creation and Times were the highlights of the self titled EP and both are included here in re-recorded fashion. They still stand out as high points on the full length, yet Into the Infinity of Thoughts and Beyond the Great Vast Forests are just as superb. Emperor would go on to create three more massive albums before calling it a day, but I think only 1997's Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk can come close to matching this amazing debut. There's no doubt in my mind that this deserves the full five stars and I imagine I'll still be cranking this up when I'm 60 and being swept off my feet in a rush of black metal magic.

Emperor Of All

For me, In the Nightside Eclipse is how I want my grandiose and symphonic Black Metal to sound, plain and simple. The mix and production can be challenging to decode since there is so much going on, but the end result is all too worth it. The marrying of strings, synths, and blistering Black Metal riffs holds up extremely well even by today's standards, and the atmosphere of the album is unparalleled. This album really does take me somewhere desolate and despondent, which for me is a pretty rare occurrence. The fact that I prefer the cold and raw sound of this album compared to Anthems of the Welkin At Dusk is definitely subjective, but this release simply left more of an impact on me overall and I'm consistently impressed whenever I come back to it. Emperor have created one of, if not the quintessential union of beautiful symphonic and classical music with the wicked and malicious chaos of Black Metal.

The whole Emperor Schtick is that they added progressive and symphonic elements to the 2nd wave of black metal recipe. Now, if you follow my reviews and are familiar with my forum content, you will know that I absolutely hate symphonic metal. I like a little bit of keys and a violin in just the right place within the context of funeral doom, or DSBM and that's it. If I was being honest I would rate this album even lower, but if I did that the members of the band might burn down my local church and try to murder me. Two-stars it is, pretty generous ranking for a homophobic drummer during pride month no less. Yes Faust drummed on this album and yes he did stab a man to death for no other reason than that man was gay. He has to this date never apologized or showed remorse for this. 

Black Metal had been out for about a decade by the point of this album's release.  We already had a revolution that was beating Venom at their own game, a dorky club pretending to be a cult before someone killed the founder of the club, and of the genre, and the same year as this album was the long awaited release of Mayhem's debut studio album.  By this point, Darkthrone had cemented itself as one of the greatest metal bands on Earth to the masses, and Immortal was just starting.  It had a crazy run before we finally got to Emperor.  Unlike grunge, black metal lived on because it was a niche market that relied on negative rep.  Emperor might've lost their lead influence, but they didn't lose their willpower.

In the Nightside Eclipse was their first outing, and to this day it remains one of the most emulated black metal albums on Earth.  In fact, this album represents a lot of firsts.  The most notable "first" of this album is the dungeon synthesizers, which were an unholy sin that even black metal fans wouldn't commit.  That's boldness for ya'.  And it's not ham-fisted or cheesy in anyway shape or form; they're gorgeous in their Gothic behavior, creepy as hell and add a thick layer of personality without being overused.  Another one is the clearer production.  The guitars might be quite dirty, but through the clean production you get not only the most of the beautiful synths, but the most of the guitars.  let the shredding handle the, ahem, dirty work.

Our singer, Ihsahn, has that absolutely perfect voice for the job.  If you're familiar with their second album, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, you might recognize something about this album.  It sounds more like typical black metal, right?  Right and wrong.  These guys were one of the first bands to really perfect what the pure sound of black metal is with the right production, except they also had a symphonic sound to work with.  So instead of being Darkthrone knockoffs, they became something more medieval, fantasy-inspired and epic.  In a way, they totally beat Darkthrone, making a new sound even more fresh, something these guys would do continuously throughout their four album streak.  They were a great bridge between melodic, traditional and the newly formed symphonic brands of black metal.  In other words, this album is purely essential by any definition for technical and melodic proficiency.  On top of that, it sounds exactly like its incredible cover wants you to think it sounds like, so there's a perfectly fitting cover, and one of my personal favorites.

Although it must be said that most of these songs sound very much the same.  I wouldn't be true to myself if I didn't point that out.  Maybe I need to compare this to their "worst" release, Equilibrium IX, but I feel that they had every ability to try to write songs with different approaches and they completely neglected that in the long run, relying on smaller surprises in a few areas rather than trying new things.  At least the album never gets boring.  But on top of that, I think there's a newfound diversity that's still there, especially for its time.  On top of the aforementioned balance between traditional, melodic and symphonic black metal, there are notable traces of gothic metal and prog metal to it, so despite its obvious flaw it's actually quite revolutionary.  Because of this, there's a constant aura eminating from what could be a perfect black metal sound in general, something that's difficult to achieve, and Emperor somehow found a way to make it look easy on their first album.

In the Nightside Eclispe will be iconic throughout the rest of metal history.  It's going to serve as an example of how to perfect the black metal sound, even though it suffers from monotony in comparison to more creative outings by not only Emperor but by other bands.  If your going to check out Emperor, I suggest you do it in chronological fashion.  This is the kind of album that will keep you headbanging throughout its entire run.  For all of its innovations, this is at least a mile ahead of the earlier traditional black metal classic, A Blaze in the Northern Sky by Darkthrone.

While Master’s Hammer actually take the accolade for the first Symphonic Black Metal album, few would disagree that Emperor’s debut improved on and perfected the genre. In the Nightside Eclipse may have singlehandedly launched the boom of Sympho Black albums in the late nineties, and became the template for the genre’s sound. It’s still regarded as widely the greatest Sympho Black album out there. But does it live up to its reputation?

The answer is a resounding yes. Emperor’s debut is a masterpiece of songwriting and dark, cold, but epic atmosphere. Each song is a beautifully crafted piece lush with choirs and strings, yet still heavily focused on classic Black Metal instrumentation. The symphonic aspect is not overbearing or overblow – not that I mind those styles – but it very much serves as a core backbone of atmosphere to the cold Black Metal riffing. Each song is not only dense with nocturnal soundscapes, but there’s a ton going on within the primary band as well. The instrumentation is of very high technique compared to most Black Metal, and the songs are full of varying passages, with fast parts, slow parts, pummeling aggression and more calculated melody.

One of those albums without any glaring flaws. Aside from the pointless into, every song is of equal quality, each has something special about them. No dull moments. Easily lives up to its reputation. Another one of those bands that aced a new style of music on their first try.