Style: Black metal
Primary Emotions/Themes: Beauty through darkness
Thoughts: "Mightiest am I, but I'm not alone in this cosmos of mine." I'm not sure I can think of a better opening line for an iconic black metal song as this. Emperor's I Am the Black Wizards is simply put one of the greatest black metal songs ever written.
In the Nightside Eclipse is the debut album from a band that requires no introduction. The levels to which Emperor has risen in the past decades is almost unmatched. They are without a doubt one of the most influential and most celebrated bands within the genre... and with good reason.
Their debut album is fairly typical black metal for the time with a few notable exceptions. The music is heavily reliant on keyboards, much more so than a typical black metal act at the time. They keys also play a vital part to the music, rather than just providing atmosphere.
Both Beyond the Great Vast Forest and Cosmic Keys to My Creations & Time use the keyboards to drive the melody for a great portion of the song. The guitars instead take the role that you would expect the keys to play: they provide the atmosphere. It flips black metal on its head.
The other notable exception is just how. damn. good. the songs are. As with all things not everything is perfect here, but the amount of songs on here that are above average to elite is noteworthy. Starting with the Into the Infinity of Thoughts the band sets the bar high. The riffs, the melodies, Ihsahn's vocals... they all draw my attention immediately and don't let go for the entirety of the eight minute opus.
After a series of excellent songs, the band closes with two of the most incredible songs in all of the genre. I Am the Black Wizards has one of the best riffs in all of black metal. This is non negotiable. The intensity that the song is played with as well makes my heart pound and gives me goosebumps to this very day... thirty years of listening to this album and I still get goosebumps.
Inno A Satana closes the album and it has been my standard for closing tracks for nearly as long as the album has been out. The song builds and builds until it explodes with blast beats and the only clean vocals found on the album. Goosebumps once again.
Emperor would go on to create the finest black metal album ever recorded after this... which is saying a lot because the bar was set exceptionally high with this album. Early on in their career Emperor certainly were worthy of their band name, no one could touch them.
Written September 4th 2024
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