I grew up on Emperor. Prometheus is for sure my favorite album of theirs, but it's also different from their early work. Tongue of Fire is a masterpiece. Never had a chance to see them live, unfortunately.

Yes :) One of my favorites! Got a proggy element to it. Fun fact the singer of Emperor is the brother-in-law of the lead singer of Leprous. They do collaborations together

4:31 to 4:47 Blind comment before the song finishes here but I can tell that the ambiguous melodies and harmony that then breaks right back into the super fast screaming verse made you visibly uneasy and yes: that is the intended effect I believe Ihsahn was going for. Long ago I recommended this album but not because I thought you might like it, but because I thought you would consider it challenging: he uses things like dissonance and juxtaposition to intentionally create this creepy, uneasy, weirded out effect and yes it's supposed to be taking you from melancholy to being extremely tense and on edge and it's not something most people will appreciate but most bands aren't doing this kind of stuff which I do appreciate.

Absolutely astounding album, I was introduced to Emperor through track three off this album, "Empty". What really fucks me up is this album being composed and tracked solely by Ihsahn (save for drums). Subbed!

I'd say, In A Wordless Chamber is THE classic track on this album. Such power and might.

While this album is great. It’s definitely more prog than black metal. You’d have to listen to stuff off of In the Nightside Eclipe or Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk for traditional black metal sound, which Emperor was definitely one of the best.

Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk is their best-pure gold

Emperor is a group i know I should listen to as someone who enjoys black metal but haven’t take the the time. Really enjoyed this song, so I guess I know who I’ll be listening to the next few days!

You should absolutely do a vid on Emperor’s Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk… particularly the opening track, Ye Entranceperium, and Ensorcelled by Khaos. Very much more in the “black metal” arena but have some really creative and unique moments.

The reason Emperor and Dimmu Borgir sound so different is that the tracks you listened to are really more like fusion genres that share a very basic core black metal sound. Dimmu Borgir's first two albums and Emperor's first album (and the second somewhat too) are much more classic black metal. After that both bands began to deviate from that sound and incorporated other elements into their music, particularly orchestration. The common factors they retained are the vocal style, raw production (less so for Dimmu Borgir), and a few other things that define the classic black metal sound. But it's good you started here. I don't know if you're quite ready for classic black metal yet. Both the Emperor and Dimmu Borgir tracks you picked are definitely on the more accessible end of their catalog :)

Really enjoying your reaction videos. I appreciate your genuine and thoughtful responses to the music and your willingness to not shy away from being critical.

A lovely suprise :) Prometheus definitely took a couple of listens for me to "understand" but now its probably my favorite album by them.

Ihsahn’s musical style is from another dimension. This song looks like the Peccatum style

If you decide to give some earlier Emperor a chance, I think you'd fare better with something from the album "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk". There's a video out there for The Loss and Curse of Reverence, from that album, if you prefer video to just straight audio. But if you want something a bit more epic, With Strength I Burn is always a good choice.

ARCTURUS - "Chaos Path" or "Throne Of Tragedy" On that album they moved into much more avantgarde style, but nonetheless, this is truly magnificent. If you want some more real, "true" black metal, I'd say bands like Watain might be a good one kzfaq.info/get/bejne/p62AjMVj3sW0dHU.html

emperor is one of the bands that pushed black metal beyond the initial trve cvlt which is quite rigid, 'the prophet' from prometheus was my introduction to them and it was an instant "ive got to check more of that" but 'eruption' is also a great one

Ihsahn took a class on classical composition, emperor has always been a step above the rest, sophisticated black metal indeed, although I’d call this more prog than black metal You may enjoy anthems to the welkin at dusk, outstanding album with a beautiful mix of face melting riffs and melodies Edit: emperor also uses allot of counterpoint melodies, when they do this while using the harmonic minor scale it sends me back to the glory days of bach.

For a similar but better(less disjointed, less insurmountably cacophonous) experience, I would recommend Septic Flesh, particularly the songs Persepolis or Sangreal from the album Communion.

You should also check out some of Ihsahn's solo stuff. (Lead singer/guitarist of Emperor)

finally someone reacts to this song i love it

I would definitely recommend their earlier material more if you want more black metal than prog

Emperor are a top 30 band for me. I love their first three LPs in which they invented symphonic black metal. Those albums, especially the first two, are widely regarded as among the greatest and most influential black metal albums ever. They're also a much rougher/harsher listen than even this, in large part because they don't have any clean vocals and the production is pretty terrible. This is the album where they incorporated prog and thrash influences, and it's not only my favorite album by them but is one of my top 5 metal albums ever. I remember the first time listening to this and just being completely overwhelmed by the music, not just the harshness but the density and complexity. This was probably the first metal album I remember hearing that made such extended use of polyphony, and it's still probably the best I've heard do it. I suspect that if you find this too harsh you'd hate their earlier stuff, but if you want to hear one of the key influences on modern black metal, check out I Am The Black Wizards or Thus Spake the Nightspirit. Be prepared for garage-level production and relentless harshness though. Prometheus was Emperor's last album, but Ihsahn, lead vocalist/songwriter/keyboardist/rhythm guitarist, basically continued on with this sound/style in his solo work.

Vektor would have fit really well in this category. Recharging the Void, specifically

Whilst technically there's no bad Emperor album in my opinion, I think Prometheus suffered from a poor production. IX Equilibrium is better production wise, but Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk is my favourite album by this wonderful band.

You seriously need to check out Thou Shalt Suffer-Somnium, its the singer/guitarists and is essentially Neo-Classical.

This was a heavy and dark album, strange and beautiful, like a horror movie. badass as fk brah

love ihsahn. i'd love to see you react to anything by 'Textures', i havnt seen too many people react to them so they are ripe for the picking... lol. They are prog metal but super groovy, soft\distorted vocals and screams. id relate them to jinjer to be honest, some might not like that comparison though i couldnt just pick one but my order would be: 1)storm warning 2)the suns architect 3)Laments of an icarus. Edit: 4) Messengers for a softer one oh, they also have a song that is 18:25.... i shit you not. eighteen minutes. its pretty good too even tho of course its gonna be repetitive at that length keep up the genuine vids man, take care

Fantastic descriptions of the various sections! Gives me new appreciation for a band like Emperor that I grew up listening to

The 2-guitar counterpoint here reminds me of Janis Joplin's version of 'Summertime'. You don't hear that kind of interplay very often, I like that

If you want a "clean sounding" like Emperor song check out Ihsahn's solo work of Lend Me the Eyes of Millennia. It sounds like Emperor but has higher studio quality audio. As for older Emperor I would recommend listening to the open song and also the song that it leads into Alsvartr (the oath) and Ye Entrancemperium off of Anthems to Welkin and Dust. I consider that there best album. And one bonus song to hear him truly shine with clean vocals is By The River by Me and the Man which is a side project of Nergal from Behemoth where he had Ihsahn sing on a song and its southern country sounding a complete departure from the black metal music those 2 compose.

Please react to modern Ihsahn (Emperor's front man). Lend Me The Eyes Of Millennia or Arcana Imperii would be my preference, but anything else is fine too.

Check - Into the infinity of thoughts is 9:00 min or The majesty of the night sky 4:53min or a classic I am the black Wizards 6:00min masterpiece 👌🏽 Emperor obviously

A riqueza de detalhes deste album me impressiona até hoje. Perfeito!

A masterpiece of a metal album. Not everyone can handle the fury of black metal, but there is more depth in black metal than most metal. The entire album is like this.

Check out Celtic Frost - Ain Elohim. Its a classic. Try some Behemoth songs too such as Shemhamforash, or Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel. Older Emperor has lots of classics. Last suggestion for the moment, check out Thorns - Interface to God

Watain - Waters of Ain or Malfeitor.

Im not sure if my suggestion completely relates to black metal but thee are definitely influences in this. Its a rare hidden gem that sets a high standard for the very band that created it. It's Melechesh -Multiple truths. It's a very tasty and fascinating mix between beautifull melodic lines and mystic a thmosphere and sick heavy riffage. The thematic and lyrics are at least as fascinating and they quite well balance the message with the instrumentation. There are definitely black and death metal influences but that's doesn't really tells you a lot about their sound. Can't wait to see you reaction !

Trivia: Insahn(lead vocal and lead guitar) is guest vocal on Leprous Contaminate me song and since Insahn have married Einar's(Leprous vocal) sister Leprous have been tourband for Insahn for many years

Thorns on my Grave is my favourite song by far on Prometheus. This and the Dimmu you've been reacting to is definitely a good entrance point into Black Metal. Another easily digestible black metal band that I think you might enjoy is Carach Angren. They have some great orchestrations and such a unique, haunting sound to them. Check out The Necromancer or Departure Towards a Nautical Curse (with the intro song Al Betekent Het Mijn Dood for the full experience).

Prometheus is definitely my favourite Emperor album. It was basically entirely written by Ihsahn. You should check out some of his solo stuff!

You should definitely look further into Ihsahn's solo work as well - that's the lead singer and guitarist here. It's much more on the progressive spectrum than his early work here. He's quite a gifted musician and has gained a lot of confidence in his clean vocals in recent years. I think anything from the album Arktis would be a great start. Maybe something like Celestial Violence would ease you in a bit.

Hi! Maybe a reaction to some black metal from Israel would be interesting? Please check Melechesh and their song "Multiple Truths". Their music also has heavy trash elements and some folk blended with their black metal.

Darkthrone.. The Key Inside The Wall

To let this be known, In The Wordless Chamber and Tounge of Fire are the only two off of this album to be performed live, the rest of this album is a bitch to play on guitar, especially this song, and Empty. It's also played on 7 string guitars, and man does Ihsahn know how to use them in this album. All the songs are pretty strong on this album, it's pretty separated from their previous albums just because of the insane complexity of these songs. If they ever perform this album live, that'll be a huge surprise for sure. Great choice and one to really examine.

DSO-SHRINE OF MAD LAUGHTER!!

Second. Can't wait until you do my request. Keep up the good work.

The clean sections are ridiculous good they should do more of these. I notice this drawback with many modern black metal groups.

You should react to We Are The Truth by Mushroom head!

Do burzum or bathory

Old Emperor is better!!!

Very bad choice for a emperor song