Pretty much exactly what I was hoping for and expecting reaction wise. And, you really did an analysis to back it up! In the later years of Emperor as a permanent band (they've been doing reunions in more recent years, playing old material) they were certainly gong in a more and more eclectic direction while never abandoning bm as their core style. Main writer and vocalist/guitarist Ihsahn went on to a solo career whith less restraints and would become more embraced by the prog (metal) community while also probably bringing some old bm fans with him into enjoying works from a more varied palette. Enslaved is another example of a classic Norwegian bm band that took a similar route - but as a band.

One of the joys i get listening to music comes from not knowing what's going on.

Baffling choice of recommendation - Prometheus is a banger of an album and shows Emperor at its most progressive … but this is THE most blastbeat-heavy song on the album. You seemed to like it anyway, Brian, which is great, but I’d have picked The Tongue of Fire, or Depraved, or The Prophet, or even In the Wordless Chamber, if I was aiming for something you’d really appreciate and enjoy. Would love to see you react to the whole album actually. This is probably heresy, but it’s my favourite of theirs.

Not my favorite era of Emperor but this is still miles head of most symphonic/prog black metal. I need to revisit this album...

Doesn't surprise me that you like this more than typical black metal. Late Emperor is pretty far removed from the canonical style of the early 90's. The things that stood out for you - clear production, compositional complexity, discernable vocals -are the opposite of what defined Black Metal a decade earlier.

EmperoR 🤘🏽🔥🤘🏽 top band in Black Metal

Surprised to see this here, not the best production nor is it even the best track on this album but I just love Ihsahn's energy he sounds possessed.

Nice, I was considering suggesting a song from this album too for the theme, so was glad to see someone else do it, even if it's not the song I'd have picked. It's easily the best Emperor album for me, even as excellent as the other three are. This one really feels like a culmination of their sound, really embracing the complexity and progressiveness of Ihshan's songwriting. Tons of fantastic three guitar sections with intertwining melodic lines, all with that sweet orchestral backing. Good stuff. In essence, this is a solo Ihsahn album with him having written and composed everything, and playing most of the instruments on here too. Lacking a little bit of context diving straight into this song though, with it being the closing track to a concept album about the titular Prometheus, with an added meta layer of also being about this being Emperor's final album and the band being laid to rest.

Regarding the lyrics, it's unfair to view them completely on their own without considering that this is a concept album detailing the story of Prometheus, who happens to be the main figure of this song. As the closing track, the lyrics feel like the epitome of a journey we as listeners have followed the character on and so the impact is that much greater. Also, regarding the middle 'slow section', I believe you miss the point of it structurally a little, it acts as more than just a display of cool ideas, firstly the transition into it was very smooth and maintained the flow of the song perfectly which signifies the intent with which it was placed, furthermore, the abrupt pause with confidence in the transition back also serves to give more power as the opening section returns, it works beautifully and doesn't feel forced in the slightest. I'd treat the piece almost more like a simple ternary form, A being the opening aggression, B being the slow brooding middle section, and then A returns to conclude the piece. Overall I really enjoyed this review and your thoughts but I thoroughly recommend returning to Emperor's maybe less accessible early works as that's where the true magic lies.

if you want some emo-esque lyrics in blackened music check out band "harakiri for the sky" (i would provide examples, but youtube doesn't like copy-pasting, so just look up lyrics for song "the graves we've dug" as example)

The start reminds me of very heavy rain.

People always refer to the first two Emperor albums, but I think Prometheus is also a masterpiece. In my opinion only their third a Is a little less than the rest.

Try the band agathodaimon their blacken the angel album

I would disagree with the drumming analysis. The odd beats on the snare drums in the middle section add an unbalanced and uneasy feeling in it. And that is very well contrasted against the follow-up section which features very straightforward drumming and riffing style. I think the drummer Trym very well weaves the rhythm pattern and knows exactly what he is doing.

Really not the album that best represents Emperor, not by a wide mile. Prometheus could be more aptly defined as Ihsahn's solo debut, because that's what it is. He composes everything, and plays everything except the drums, leaving outside Samoth, which was the other creative element of the group. It's a weak album by Emperor standards as a result, IMO, and neither is it the best Ihsahn moment either. Some people who prefer the more proggy elements might find fault in the early albums sound,, but the chaos did suit them a lot better, there was a method and a complimentarity to how differently both guitars were played, one sharply and more lead based, one dirtier and more "wall of sound" that really enriched the sound even before the more symphonic, synth elements. So yeah, this one tends to sit on a really rough spot in Ihsahn's discography. He was always the main composer in Emperor, but Emperor's sound was at its best when it was collaborative. Here, he wanted to leave Emperor behind and explore other things, and his melodic writing is by and large good enough that he never really did a bad album, but it's lacking a bit of Emperor's character at its prime, and lacking a bit of the self assured experimentation that would later characterise Ihsahn's finer solo moments. Anthems is widely regarded as Emperor's finest work for good reason, not least among them the feat of being a varied collection of songs that flows incredibly well as a whole album. This album has a few better arrangements here and there, like the lovely counterpoint you were such a fan of, but most of the songs are made of some occasional great moments as opposed to being great. Despite it's rougher edges, anthems really is stronger compositionally, dipping in and out between brutality and atmosphere and knowing when to use the keyboards as support so that guitars can build the melodies, and when to give them center stage. They're one of very few bands that knows how to compose for all instruments, and where neither guitars or keys are static.

Not this album brother! Listen to the other 3

Very strange Emperor choice. 🤷 Probably their worst album, and is this even a good track from that album? Classic Emperor (EPs and albums): Wrath of the Tyrants, In the Nightside Eclipse, Reverence, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk.

This sounds very ...convulsional, what happened to old Emperor? Old men should not play too much with blast beats, i guess 😂