Review by Ben for Emperor - Emperor (1993)
The first official Emperor release showcases majestic symphonic black metal of the highest order.
There was a lot of label interest in Emperor after the Wrath of the Tyrant demo spread through the underground. The band was at one stage signed to Euronymous’ infamous Deathlike Silence Productions, but for one reason or another never actually released anything for it. In the end it was newly formed label Candlelight that would be fortunate enough to get Emperor onto their roster and the band set about getting something recorded officially. Samoth realised that his percussion skills were not his main strength, so Bård G. Eithun (aka Faust) was recruited as a full time drummer, allowing Samoth to move back to guitar. Ihsahn, Samoth, Mortiis and Faust entered the studio “under the December full moon anno 1992” where they would record seven tracks in total. Five were re-recordings of tracks found on the Wrath of the Tyrant demo (Ancient Queen, Night of the Graveless Souls, Witches Sabbath, Lord of the Storms and Wrath of the Tyrant) while I am the Black Wizards and Cosmic Keys to My Creations and Times were brand new Emperor compositions. There was almost enough material to release a full length Emperor album but the decision was made to choose the four best tracks and release a self titled EP instead. They made the right choice too as the tracks they chose are of the highest quality.
Most fans would know the Emperor EP as part of the split Emperor / Hordanes Land release with Enslaved that was released in June 1993, but it was also released as a separate vinyl 12” EP a month prior. The split is considered a classic black metal release, being the first official recordings of two of the most prominent and remarkable bands to come out of the Norwegian black metal scene. The striking album cover that adorns both versions of the Emperor EP is a wood engraving by French artist Gustave Doré (1832-1883) called Death on the Pale Horse, which is actually one of many bible illustrations that Gustave completed over his career. It might seem strange for Emperor to attach anything related to the bible, but the verse the illustration represents is from a rather morbid Revelation verse that certainly doesn’t seem at odds with black metal. “And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” It wouldn’t be the last time Emperor would utilise Doré’s work, nor would they be the only black metal band that would use his material, but more on that another time.
The versions of Ancient Queen, Lord of the Storms and Witches Sabbath recorded in this session would eventually be released in a separate vinyl 12” EP in 1994 and while they are still enjoyable and far improved from the demo, none of them come close to anything here. The obvious highlights are the new tracks I am the Black Wizards and Cosmic Keys to My Creations and Times which shows just how quickly Emperor were improving their song writing. There was simply nothing as majestically wonderful in the world of black metal released prior to this. The level of atmospheric mystery and wonder that Emperor could create with their wall of sound is unrivalled and they’d go on to record a couple of the greatest extreme metal albums ever using the blueprint that’s present right here. Night of the Graveless Souls and Wrath of the Tyrant are of a slightly lesser quality, but the better production, far superior drumming, higher prominence of keyboards and the fact that Emperor had finally realised that performing black metal with down-tuned guitars does not get the ideal result mean they are far superior to the demo versions. They alone make this EP well worth tracking down in whatever format you can get your hands on, even if you own the In the Nightside Eclipse album (which includes both of the new tracks re-recorded).
Further info: The members of Emperor were incredibly prolific in their early years. I’m not just talking about recording music here as there’s nothing particularly impressive about the amount of albums they were releasing. It’s just that somehow these guys managed to find the time in between writing and recording black metal to run around the neighbourhood doing all sorts of nasty things to buildings and people. Between recording the Wrath of the Tyrant demo in July 1992 and the Emperor EP in December 1992, Samoth and Faust would both be heavily involved in burning down the ancient churches of Norway. It is known for certain that Samoth, along with Varg Vikernes (of Burzum fame), burnt down Skjold Church in Vindafjord on September 13. More seriously, on August 21, a day before he assisted Varg and Euronymous (of Mayhem fame) burn down Holmenkollen Chapel in Oslo, Faust stabbed a man named Magne Andreassen to death for making sexual advances towards him. Neither Samoth nor Faust would be convicted of these crimes until 1994 when the shit hit the fan in Norway, allowing them to record some of Emperor’s most important material as unidentified criminals. You could say these guys took their beliefs seriously. A little too seriously perhaps?!