Emperor - In The Nightside Eclipse review
| Band: | Emperor |
| Album: | In The Nightside Eclipse |
| Style: | Symphonic black metal |
| Release date: | February 21, 1994 |
| Guest review by: | Paganblood |
Disc I
01. Introduction
02. Into The Infinity Of Thoughts
03. The Burning Shadows Of Silence
04. Cosmic Keys To My Creations & Times
05. Beyond The Great Vast Forest
06. Towards The Pantheon
07. The Majesty Of The Night Sky
08. I Am The Black Wizards
09. Inno A Satana
10. A Fine Day To Die [Bathory cover] [bonus]
11. Gypsy [Mercyful Fate cover] [bonus]
As The Shadows Rise 7" EP 1994
12. The Ancient Queen [remastered edition bonus]
13. Witches Sabbath [remastered edition bonus]
14. Lord Of The Storms [remastered edition bonus]
Disc II [remastered edition bonus]
01. Introduction [alternative mix]
02. Into The Infinity Of Thoughts [alternative mix]
03. The Burning Shadows Of Silence [alternative mix]
04. Cosmic Keys To My Creations & Times [alternative mix]
05. Beyond The Great Vast Forest [alternative mix]
06. Towards The Pantheon [alternative mix]
07. The Majesty Of The Night Sky [alternative mix]
08. I Am The Black Wizards [alternative mix]
09. Inno A Satana [alternative mix]
The Alckerhaugen Tapes 1993
10. The Majesty Of The Night Sky [4-track pre-production]
11. The Burning Shadows Of Silence [pre-production rehearsal]
12. I Am The Black Wizards [rehearsal]
Emperor released their first full length album "In The Nightside Eclipse" in 1994. At the time, Emperor's line-up consisted of Ihsahn on lead guitars, vocals and keyboards, Samoth on guitars, Tchort on bass and Faust on drums. This album is indeed a masterpiece album in the Black Metal genre. It consists of ten tracks including the bonus tracks "A Fine Day To Die" (Bathory cover) and "Gypsy" (Merciful Fate cover). Alver (bass), Trym (drums) and Charmand Grimloch (keyboards) make appearances on the two cover songs.
I regard this album to be one of the best Emperor albums. The songs focus more on raw guitars, timely blast beats and "chilling" tone of keyboards which suit very well. There are less clean vocals, which is unlike the band's style on most of their other albums. I find Ihsahn's vocals to be more powerful and aggressive on than on any other Emperor album. In The Nightside Eclipse will certainly not fail in any aspect to please a raw Black Metal fan, and maybe even an Extreme Metal fan, for not only the music, but even the lyrics have been written in an equally artistic and effective manner. The lyrics of the songs focus mainly in describing the characters of an imaginary ancient world. Its scenery and inhabitants belong to the theme of emperors, kings, wizards, and wolves. The song "Inno A Satana" however, can be considered to be homage to Satan. The music of the songs and lyrics together seem to succeed in taking the listener deep into the imagery of this ancient world.
In a single sentence, this album can be described as an excellent Black Metal album comprising of a fusion of rawness, speed and "chilling" melody. The bands praiseworthy work on music composition, performance as well as song writing makes the album deserve an award of the respectful rating '10'. Hence, I would like to make a strong recommendation to Extreme Metal fans to add this album to their collection, for a metal (especially Black Metal) collection would be incomplete without it.
Rating breakdown
| Performance: | 9 |
| Songwriting: | 9 |
| Originality: | 10 |
| Production: | 7 |
Written by Paganblood | 29.12.2006
Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
Rating:
9.8
9.8
|
Rating: 9.8 |
Behold the greatest symphonic black metal release ever! "In The Nightside Eclipse" is one of the most important albums in the 90's Norwegian black metal scene. Consisting of 8 tracks plus two covers (Bathory - "A Fine Day To Die" and King Diamond's "Gypsy") this album has managed to show the listeners that black metal can be raw and extremely melodic at the same time. Read more ›› |
Comments
Comments: 19
Visited by: 191 users
| Katatronik Angel of Lust Posts: 1018  |
One of the most beautiful black metal album without any doubt! Everything here is special, every song a little masterpiece and also the artwork is great! I agree with you and yours is a very good review! 
---- "The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown." Howard Phillips Lovecraft
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| Talvi Posts: 825  |
I guess that anybody that wants a perfect black metal album can't rate the production xD
---- My account on other musical pages: http://www.last.fm/user/Pozito/ http://rateyourmusic.com/~Talvi
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| Basso Account deleted |
Basso
Account deleted Written by Talvi on 30.12.2006 at 00:43 Ofcourse not, the "shitty" production is part of the perfection  One of the best albums ever \m/
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| Sunioj Posts: 3894  |
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| -MeTaLlIc-OwL- Account deleted |
-MeTaLlIc-OwL-
Account deleted
haha, i didnt notice either, i frickin love this album. Black Metal as it should be 
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| Paganblood The Aryaputra Posts: 1194  |
Ratings re-adjusted.
---- that which shines without names and forms...
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| |Angela| Account deleted |
|Angela|
Account deleted
Really good album and good review. I agree completely . My favorite album by Emperor although I would rank Anthems quite high as well. The track listing doesn't have Gypsy and A Fine Day to Die which are two of my favorite tracks. Specially Gypsy.
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| villain Posts: 238  |
I think the word "Majestic" pretty much describes the album.
---- Suddenly........ Life has new meaning
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| Warman Erotic Stains Posts: 7695  |
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| Uirapuru Liver Failure Posts: 2955  |
THE best album! Simply one of the best in metal history. The rawness is perfectly adjusted, leaving the heavy atmosphere more pleasant to the ears. Great vocals, drums, riffs, cover, theme. Almost perfect. Just that first track would be better if it begins from the 4th minute (''Into The Infinity Of Thoughts'').
----  ---- member of the true crusade against old school heavy metal, early 80s thrash, NWOBHM, traditional doom, first and second wave black metal, old school death metal, US power metal, 70s prog rock and atmospheric doomsludgestoner. o/
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| Ellrohir Heaven Knight Posts: 8669  |
Probably i was expecting more, but i wasnt disppointed either
---- My rest seems now calm and deep Finally I got my dead man sleep 
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| MetalHealing Posts: 1 |
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| jazar94 Posts: 59 |
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| BeastOfMetal456 Account deleted |
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| @gent_-_orange Posts: 905  |
Written by [user id=122056] on 22.09.2011 at 21:14 I would say that about every song on here, This album is a masterpiece no doubt about it. At the risk of sounding like a fanboy I would say that everything is perfect on this record.
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| Frost Beast Account deleted |
Frost Beast
Account deleted Written by @gent_-_orange on 14.10.2011 at 17:49 You're right, friend. 
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62002  |
Nice words but somehow I think that this vocal thing it would be better bit claner, we could understand song lyrics
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| BetulaObscura Posts: 209  |
Written by Bad English on 13.06.2016 at 19:40 It was recorded in Grieg Hall in Bergen with strong echo/reverb. That is why vocals sound "distant" and not that loud (comparing with other instruments).
---- "Inspired by the future of the past"
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| BlankFile Posts: 705 |
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