Metal Reviews

The production on Anthems is rather odd too, some halfway state between the white noise of Nightside and clarity of the last two albums.

I pretty much came to the same conclusion. Darkthrone may be aping Celtic Frost to a large extent on those early releases but damn do those riffs fucking slay!!

I love Emperor but they don't hold a candle to either group, in spite of ironically creating their own sound.

How so?

The sheer number of bands both bands inspired, the accolades of being the best bm bands to ever exist (Emperor undoubtedly is considered here as well), and the the timelessness of their early albums? Emperor's issue is more or less with their lesser output imo, not in terms of quality. Had they released two more albums, they'd be just as essential as Burzum or Darkthrone.

Point well taken. However, I don't think the sheer number of albums can be completely justified as "a band that doesn't hold a candle to the other two". I believe that's a bit of exaggeration. Emperor released four full lengths albums, two of which hold legendary status. Darkthrone on the other hand, has three albums which hold legendary status. I don't think quantity is the real matter here than more so quality. Therefore, I think they are both essential.

Two Emperor albums hold 'legendary status'? Really, which two? Nightside is obviously one, and Prometheus is the other?

Ok, I know you meant Anthems as the second, but I'm not buying the collective opinion argument on that: CotB said he thought IX Equilibrium was a better Anthems, and I prefer Prometheus to Anthems. Now metal-archives.com's average rating on the albums does agree with you, however, it only takes one or two troll ratings to totally skew those averages, of course.

I didn't know Darkthrone had 3 legendary albums either (I prefer Panzerfaust to Transylvanian Hunger anyway), but that is a sidetracking discussion.

I think Steve's essential point is that Darkthrone and Burzum released more traditional Norwegian black metal albums than Emperor did. I agree with this, IX Equilibrium and Prometheus, as impressive I thought those releases were, incorporated so many elements of progressive/death metal into their sound that if you held those albums next to Under A Funeral Moon and Det som engang var could you really say all three bands were from the same genre? Some purists still even argue Anthems is too far removed from the initial black metal sound, and I can sort of see their point.

All of this said Crimson, I would still agree with you that Emperor are essential in black metal history, Nightside alone is so important that it puts to rest any doubts about any of the other material, and the purists who liked to claim to Emperor ended after that album missed out on a lot of great material, 'traditional BM' or not.

Good discussion all around gents.

Emperor only produced one full-length black metal album, and as was mentioned have nowhere near the influence on the genre both Darkthrone and Burzum had.

I disagree they created symphonic black metal as bands like Limbonic art and others immediately followed after. As I stated they're influential on a more macro scale, just nowhere NEAR as influential as either Darkthrone or Burzum

Let's say for the sake of argument they did, though.
I'm not so sure that's even a good thing. "Symphonic" and black metal do not equate if you really think about it, and most so-called symphonic black metal is to these ears unlistenable, aside from a few tracks here and there.

Had Emperor's discography playing yesterday and last night and was enjoying all of it!

I don't think one can deny Emperor's influence on Limbonic Art though. Limbonic Art was on Samoth's label, the first toured with them, generally they praised Emperor, etc. That said, they were pretty different from Emperor.

And as already noted, how much 'symphonic black metal' is good anyway? I like Limbonic Art, but can't think of any others.

You guys are so god damn picky.

What about Dimmu Borgir? (Cue collective groan ) But in all seriousness, Puritanical Darkness Misanthropia is an excellent album. They became Ozzfest darlings afterward but that was a great release. Cthonic is also a band worthy of note. Their integration of native Taiwanese instruments and culture adds a welcome personal touch to the standard SBM formula. They're a rock solid live act as well in spite of some odd Pro-Taiwan banter between songs.

yeah, dimmu is a really good band.

Do you mean Enthrone Darkness Triumphant or Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia? If so, agreed on the former, but not on the latter.

And on the other band you meant Chthonic? Hmm, I wasn't familiar with them before so I listened to a few tracks from their last few albums. I guess they are good at what they do, but definitely not for me.

I meant Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia and thank you for the correction. It was the first DB record I ever bought and instantly loved it. EDT was a fantastic record as well and arguably their crowning achievement. I've always considered DB to be one of the big gateway bands that leads new fans to explore the black metal sub-genre. Their slick production and more accessible (at least in BM terms) sound turns off many purists but I don't think the band really cares. Like their British counterparts CoF, I enjoy them for what they are. And yes, I was referring to C(h)thonic. I always forget that damn extra 'h'.

Yeah, I totally understand forgetting the extra 'h'. And yes Dimmu is a good 'gateway' band, and I still like Enthrone Darkness, which I think aged better than PEM. But since you brought it up, I think giving PEM another listen is a good idea.

Still tied. Darkthrone's first 4 bm albums should really only be ahead by a slight if at all. Burzum's latter work is probably better than Darkthrone's to be perfectly honest.

Easily Burzum.