Emperor - In The Nightside Eclipse

Their second best album (after Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk) IMO. Crazy to think Ihsahn was just 18 when they wrote and recorded this.

9.1/10 for me - 'Into the Infinity of Thoughts' and 'I Am the Black Wizards' are the standout tracks. 'Cosmic Keys to My Creations & Times' is also fantastic.

If you are a fan of extreme metal but find most black metal too samey and boring, give this one a listen, I promise it will hold your attention!

A magnificent album, with such a majestic, and wonderful atmosphere, yet so sinister, and dark, it's an unworldly experience. The whole album is mesmerising to listen to from start to finish, not one moment I find dull, and not one part I find worth skipping. Anthens To The Welkin At Dusk was fantastic, but this is something else, a huge improvement on the production imo, the instruments and symphonies are much crisper, and I found the vocals much clearer too, and the cover art is awesome! Imo this is the absolute pinnacle of symphonic black metal.

Written by AndyMetalFreak on 10.04.2022 at 19:15

A magnificent album, with such a majestic, and wonderful atmosphere, yet so sinister, and dark, it's an unworldly experience. The whole album is mesmerising to listen to from start to finish, not one moment I find dull, and not one part I find worth skipping. Anthens To The Welkin At Dusk was fantastic, but this is something else, a huge improvement on the production imo, the instruments and symphonies are much crisper, and I found the vocals much clearer too, and the cover art is awesome! Imo this is the absolute pinnacle of symphonic black metal.

I'm not sure why, but I find Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk ridiculously superior to this one. I've tried listening to Nightside recently again, and I admit there were some good parts (mainly in the second half of the album). But, while this album has some good moments, Anthems is full of masterpiece songs.

Overall, I don't like the nasally vocals here and the instrumentation blurs together so much, that it sounds like not much interesting is going on. In contrast, on Anthems, there is a great variety in the vocals and the production allows all the instruments to be a lot more discernible.

I don't know. I'll keep trying to get into Nightside, but it's been a lot easier to like Anthems.

Does anyone know what happened to the band in between 1994 and 1997 that made such a difference in their musical approach?

Written by F3ynman on 07.07.2022 at 08:08

I'm not sure why, but I find Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk ridiculously superior to this one. I've tried listening to Nightside recently again, and I admit there were some good parts (mainly in the second half of the album). But, while this album has some good moments, Anthems is full of masterpiece songs.

Overall, I don't like the nasally vocals here and the instrumentation blurs together so much, that it sounds like not much interesting is going on. In contrast, on Anthems, there is a great variety in the vocals and the production allows all the instruments to be a lot more discernible.

I think it helps that this was one of the first black metal albums I discovered, it blew me away when I first heard it. I've found that most people prefer Anthems To this one, I must admit the opening to that album is amazing, but I've always preferred the overall sound on this one, maybe I should listen to Anthems more

I like Anthems a lot better, while this one has some very cool moments, the overall sound of the next album is more enjoyable and unique.

Production on Anthems is such a drawback. I could listen to this album forever. I Am The Black Wizards opening riff…

Anthems is 100% the superior album, but the cold frosty atmosphere on this one is so good.

Very good nice classical black metal album that I have never listened before now

Image thinking this is better than Anthems.

Kinda cringe.

My personal Top 3 songs from the album:

I Am The Black Wizards
Inno A Satana
Into The Infinity Of Thoughts

I'll always remember listening to this album for the first time as a teenager while walking and looking at trees, being immersed in the atmosphere. Ah memories. As far as symphonic black metal that retains the aggression of the "black" part this is perhaps the pinnacle. Yes Anthems is also a masterpiece (as are the other two for that matter).