Black Metal.

[~Derek~]

Emperor's INTE album is full of memorable symphonic black metal and is a CD I never get tired of listening to, Anthems was very good as well though it doesn't beat INTE. I also liked what I've heard from IX Equilibrium and I heard all of Prometheus and thought it was good. Emperor is my favorite black metal band by the way.

 

[Nico]

I find Emperor far too overly complex and pretentious. After listening to each of their albums dozens of times, I've come to the conclusion that I fucking hate them.

 

[Hubster]

^ Mate that's a real shame, but I can understand where you're coming from.

Personally I found my appreciation of Emperor increase even more when I became obsessed with Peccatum.

 

[Nico]

Whereas I have NO FUCKING IDEA where you're coming from when you disregard Transilvanian Hunger. Everything Grimace and Polarity have said is true.

 

[Hubster]

Well sorry, I gave Darkthrone a go a long time ago, and it didn't do much for me at all. I found it completely shallow. Well you never know - I may investigate Darkthrone again some day and feel differently.

 

[swizzlenuts]

I know they're well liked (probably loved), but what are some opinions on Emperor.

In the Nightside Eclipse is the only album by them that I have ever bothered listening to, I thought it was pretty damn good. How about the other stuff?

Anthems seems really forced, and where ITNE does a good job, Anthems fails. The rest isn't really black metal; it's interesting and stuff though.

 

[-Demonium-]

Anthems is fantastic in my opinion. IX Equilibrium on the other hand... quite disappointing.

 

[Hubster]

Everything up to IXE is great imo. Prometheus... well, look the music *IS* good, but for what I expect from Emperor, no.

Prometheus would have been much better as an Ihsahn debut solo record (practically is anyway).

 

[VittraEternity]

Emperor is fantastic but like many others I don't care for their last two albums, however I really enjoyed Ihsahn's The Adversary. I like Anthems the best actually, a lot having to do with the epic that is "With Strength I Burn." A fantastic release though I would hesitate to really call it a black metal album, by contrast to typical releases.

 

[Thasis]

Emperor is great all the way through. It's just the later great doesn't realy seem that great if you compare it to the old great. As for Ihsahn, the solo stuff is actualy pretty good. It was pretty melo, but it was similiar to Prometheus in certain stylings.

 

[Hubster]

^ Yes, agreed.

I was very upset about the demise of Peccatum though. I love what Ihsahn and Ihriel come up with together, the romanticsm and Western Art Music influences in Peccatum are beautiful.

The last two releases (Lost in Reverie, and The Moribund People [EP]) are excellent releases.

Notably, Ihsahn's vocal work in Peccatum showed he is a very capable musician in vocal aspects, both clean and grim styles: His grim vocals with Peccatum have a more abrasive quality, while retaining his timbre. His clean vocals in recent times (The Adversary and also the live Emperor footage from Wacken 2006) shows he has been training hard: his singing skill has increased several levels, and he has strengthened his upper registers and falsettos considerably. Most impressive!

On a note about Heidi (Ihriel) I am dying to get my hands on some Star Of Ash. I've not yet heard it, but from what I hear of her in Peccatum, she sounds very very interesting.

 

[VittraEternity]

Emperor is great all the way through. It's just the later great doesn't realy seem that great if you compare it to the old great. As for Ihsahn, the solo stuff is actualy pretty good. It was pretty melo, but it was similiar to Prometheus in certain stylings.

Yes, I do see the many similarities with latter Emperor and Ihsahn, and perhaps my opinion is biased for comparing the newer to earlier work. As mentioned before, maybe if Prometheus was released under the Ihsahn name I would have liked it better. Though I think The Adversary is better and offers a bit more in terms of mood and feeling, where as I found Prometheus and Equilibrium to be somewhat sterile.

 

[Hubster]

If memory serves, Prometheus was written entirely by Ihsahn with no input from Samoth at all as Emperor had already disbanded by the albums completion.

 

[VittraEternity]

If memory serves, Prometheus was written entirely by Ihsahn with no input from Samoth at all as Emperor had already disbanded by the albums completion.

I believe you're right.

 

[Nico]

For Hubster and such who were interested - Spiculum Iratus
YouSendIt: The Leader in File Delivery.

 

[Hubster]

^ cheers mate

 

[Killbot]

For Hubster and such who were interested - Spiculum Iratus
YouSendIt: The Leader in File Delivery.

Downloading now.

 

[Hubster]

For those interested: Darklord.

Satanic Black Metal hailing from Adelaide, South Australia. They have been around since 1991, but due to personal issues over the years, have only recorded one album so far, Symphony Satanikka.

Blistering drumming, ultra-low death growls, high Black Metal shrieks and super low tuned double-neck guitars combines with soaring keys to create something truly fantastic in a live environment.

The album unfortunately does not justify their amazing live power. I can't wait to see this band again and hope they release another album to better reflect what they can do. Remarkable.

Official Site.

Video here: http://darklord.com.au/media/Darklord%20- Bloodlust 2004 - Our Father [Hi - 512x288].avi

 

[Hubster]

Décadent:

Is this Spiculum Iratus' first demo so far?

Had a listen to it, and must say that while nothing about it particularly leaps at me (some of the vocal work is humourous), there are some elements in it which show some possibilities for more impressive work in the future.

Could be a band to keep an eye on.

 

[ohiogrinder]

I don't know where people are getting that Anthems is forced. Seems like an effortless cohesive record to me.