The general conceit within black metal is that the rawer and more under-produced the album the more authentic and trve it sounds. Therefore remastering and remixing records of that particular genre is a venture never likely to be met with universal praise. Not that a little fact like that has deterred Satyricon in any way, the Norwegian act even going so far as to completely change the artwork on their first two albums for these updated releases courtesy of Napalm Records.
Truth is stranger than fiction when it comes to the entire Norwegian Black Metal scene, its founding epoch, and its legacy. A lot of text has been written about how terrible certain characters in the scene were. Every band at the time seemed to revel in being befouled by the stain of their actions. Emperor is no different and was a vital part of that scene. Having made amends to whatever level they can mea culpa their mistakes as kids, their names no less ruined than their peers. Musically, however, they have few equals in terms of what they put down. Their full-length debut album In The Nightside Eclipse (Candlelight Records) is still one of the gold-standard Black Metal albums ever made, and worthy of deep analysis on the silver- anniversary of its release. Continue reading