Emperor

About Emperor

Emperor formed in 1991 in Notodden, Norway, when Ihsahn and Samoth were still teenagers. They started as Thou Shalt Suffer before switching names and going all-in on black metal. The original lineup included Mortiis on bass, who wore a goblin mask and later became better known for his solo dark ambient work than anything he did with the band.

Their 1994 debut "In the Nightside Eclipse" became one of those albums that defined second-wave Norwegian black metal, whether they wanted that responsibility or not. The production was deliberately raw but somehow maintained clarity that let the symphonic keyboard layers breathe alongside the tremolo-picked guitars. Songs like "I Am the Black Wizards" and "Inno a Satana" established their approach: aggressive, cold, but with actual compositional ambition beyond just making the most evil noise possible.

The band's trajectory got complicated when Samoth and Faust both ended up in prison. Faust for murder, Samoth for church arson. This was the peak of black metal's church-burning phase, and Emperor was right in the middle of it. They recorded their second album "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk" in 1997 with Trym on drums, and it's arguably their most focused work. The songs got longer and more intricate. "Ye Entrancemperium" and "With Strength I Burn" showed a band getting more sophisticated without losing intensity.

By 1999's "IX Equilibrium" they'd stripped back some of the symphonic elements and pushed toward a more technical, aggressive sound. Then 2001's "Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise" went the opposite direction—massively ambitious, progressive, dense to the point where you need multiple listens to catch what's happening. Ihsahn's vocals incorporated clean singing. The songs barely resembled traditional black metal structure anymore.

They split up after that album. Ihsahn said they'd accomplished what they set out to do, which is a more dignified exit than most bands manage. He went on to a solo career that kept getting weirder and more progressive. Samoth formed Zyklon, which was more straightforward death metal.

Emperor has reunited for occasional festival appearances since 2006, usually playing "In the Nightside Eclipse" in full because that's what people want to hear. They've been selective about it—not doing the constant reunion tour circuit, just popping up when it seems appropriate. Ihsahn has been pretty clear that Emperor is finished as a recording entity.

Their influence is hard to overstate. They proved black metal could be musical and ambitious without losing its essential nastiness. Plenty of bands copied the symphonic elements, but few understood that Emperor's strength was in the songwriting, not just the atmospheric window dressing.

Emperor shows are cathedral-like despite the chaos. Crowds oscillate between transfixed and violently engaged. The band treats each set like a deliberate ritual rather than a throwaway gig. Precision matters to them in a way that makes venues feel smaller than they are.

Known for Loss and Curse, The Loss and Curse of Reverence, Mighty Ravendark, An Elegy of Lamentation, The Majesty of the Nightsky

See Emperor Live