Shortly before "IX Equilibrium" came out, Emperor's back catalogue was re-released. This particular reissue includes Emperor's self-titled MCD (originally released as a split album with Enslaved), and their "Wrath of the Tyrant" demo, which, as far as I know, was only available on tape until now.

There is no point to dissect the MCD song by song, but its overall sound is dirtier than "In the Nightside Eclipse" but less atmospheric. The liner notes for "Wrath of the Tyrant" state that it "has by nature a very necro sound..." Whatever they mean by "necro," the sound is indeed very eerie and dirty. There is no keyboards to provide the atmospheric touches, and Samoth's drumming is less impressive than his guitar playing. However, this was Emperor's beginning. By the underground merits "...Tyrant" is a classic, and I am not about to start disputing that. Ihsahn's vocals are extremely vile. He sounds like evil is dripping from his lips. Song wise, "...Tyrant" is very good too, as it includes such Emperor classics as "Forgotten Centuries," "Witches Sabbath," "Night of the Graveless Souls," and, of course, "Wrath of the Tyrant," all of which easily demonstrate that the band were showing a lot of promise from their very inception. One curious thing, is that "My Empire's Doom" from "...Tyrant" is the same song as "Beyond the Great Vast Forest" from "In the Nightside Eclipse." For some reason they decided to ditch the song's original title.

Recommended for fans of underground metal and Emperor completists.

© 1999 boris