Album number four is......
Emperor – Anthems To The Welkin Dust
So I was thinking, I’ll try and do a bit more of a professional review this time, talk more about themes of the album and what worked an what didn’t rather than a detailed but Rudimentary track by track breakdown. Well as they say the best laid plans of mice and men and all that because after listening to the opener there’s no way are could start anywhere but there. It’s simply the best opener ever for a Black Metal album, it’s the dreaded Creed/Angels & Airwaves/Staind loopy soft hargen daz opening guitar, with soft chimes but it slowly morphs and becomes more brooding and the chimes begin to sound like the sharpening of swords and the hissing of snakebeasts. Then a Russian priest like voice whispers some demon prayer. Building up and up and up until the words “I am the eternal power, I am the EMPEROR!!!!” and no that’s not it. A fanfare kicks it and some marching drums and medieval sea shanty singing follow forwith! It’s awesome it’s your soundtrack to watching an evil wizard summoning a many headed serpent to attack the damsel in distress only for when everything seems bleakest a knight to ride in on his mighty steed to a fanfare and then back to the pub for sea shanties and lashings of ginger ale. Who can’t relate to that? Fuck Arctic Monkey’s this is the soundtrack to your night out! Can I give this album five stars yet?
Okay if you’ve been following this feature you’ll remember the Iced Earth review; it was a pretty epic affair. Well Emperor manage to harness all the pomposity and ludicrousness of Iced Earth’s medival gothic wankery, speed it up a million times, put thudding drums over it and actually make it sound cool. No I’ve not gone total insane, this is pretty fun stuff. Ensorcelled By Khaos is the perfect example, the guitars swirl and the piano line bounces with the drums thunder creating an insane looping waltz that sends you into a pleasant trance and you don’t even notice that Its been going on for five minutes, then the waltz drops and the a pummelling hurricane of smashing and crashing blows combine with some epic keys and over the top lyrics. It’s absolute and total nonsense but it’s really quite good fun. Make no mistake they lyrics are silly, but there’s enough visceral energy in the delivery to over come its silly moments. Make no mistake your still a dork to be listening to this but you won’t be laughing at what you’re listening to and the tracks are suitably vicious that no one will be laughing at you either. But do you know what’s best of all? I’ve learnt a new word Enscorcelled, how cool is that, I’ll be sure to drop it entirely inappropriately in conversation, and you know what, no one will have a fucking clue what it means and won’t care call me up on it, how cool is that. Christiano Ronaldo has really Enscorcelled Alex Ferguson.
There is one big problem though, and it seems that every band with Gothic, Fantasy and medieval intent tend to make. After listening to twenty five minutes of ear shredding epic adventure do you know how many tracks I’ve heard? Five, yep, five. Here’s a hint for all you aspiring Opera rockers out there just because you think your penning the new Lord Of The Rings doesn’t mean it has to be as long as all three of the fucking movies combined. A couple of three minute cracks could really have done the trick.
The Acclamation Of The Bonds has a bigger more raw bang for its buck, with the lead singer blowing down all three of the little piggies houses at once. This track also shows of the bands excellent control of melody and rhythm while their are pounding the holy hell out of there instruments they opted not to bury themselves in their own fuzz, instead the sound is crispy and clear and actually has a nice pitter patter beat to it. As the bell tolls the band slow down and return to a more generic metal sound only to unleash thirty seconds of venom when out of nowhere an angelic synth sound rings out like the eye of a hurricane, only for the pounding to resume.
The lead guitar sound on this album is very well constructed remaining clear and crisp over the top of a pounding rhythm section, and it does very well to keep the album sounding relatively fresh even if the rhythm section only has one gear. Another nice feature of the album is its own pomp and how these surprises emerge out a thudding dark background. With Strenght I Burn has the same thrashing guitars and pounding full steam ahead rhythm we are now well accustom too but suddenly a town prior medieval peasant voice sings it, its total ridiculous but it’s totally different to everything that’s gone before as he sings about “Scattering the ashes of destiny”. Then the deeper Emperor voice emerges and its like there singing for the freedom/control of this mortals soul. It’s unbelievably dumb but quite fun. Unfortunately the track clocks in at over eight minutes. Metal bands need to understand, its not dance music, you can’t get a crowd entranced and lost in the beat for eight minutes as the Deejay subtly mixes in the next track, you can’t achieve a trance with metal it can’t become part of the background because the music is fundamentally abrasive. Thus if you are going to commission yourself to over five minutes a track they’ve got to be fucking epic. That said this track is epic and while the conclusion is rather limp it’s an excellent centrepiece for a superbly pretentious album.
This does lead to the final point of contention with this album, it has three bonus tracks. If they are included as part of the review they are totally superfluous, make the album bloated and criminally over long. At eight tracks, two of which are intros and outros the album is perfectly balanced and well crafted. I’ve decided to give the album the benefit of the doubt, and discount the bonus materiel but be warned, you’re in for a seriously long hall if they are included. Although Opus Of A Santana is a more suitably OTT track to close the album than The Wanderer.
Final Thoughts: This is a mind boggling listen, you’ve had fun, heard some cool guitars, fast drumming, some very silly but melodic singing that remarkably doesn’t overstay its welcome but your left with one question, why on earth would anyone want to make music like this? Why am I listening to this? Do I really relate to Demon’s and Knights? It’s always a bad sign if an album has you asking why on earth your listening to it in the first place but this album unlike Iced Earth treads just the right side of the fun/embarrassment divide and is the one and only Dungeons and Dragons mega metal album you will ever require. (****)
So I was thinking, I’ll try and do a bit more of a professional review this time, talk more about themes of the album and what worked an what didn’t rather than a detailed but Rudimentary track by track breakdown. Well as they say the best laid plans of mice and men and all that because after listening to the opener there’s no way are could start anywhere but there. It’s simply the best opener ever for a Black Metal album, it’s the dreaded Creed/Angels & Airwaves/Staind loopy soft hargen daz opening guitar, with soft chimes but it slowly morphs and becomes more brooding and the chimes begin to sound like the sharpening of swords and the hissing of snakebeasts. Then a Russian priest like voice whispers some demon prayer. Building up and up and up until the words “I am the eternal power, I am the EMPEROR!!!!” and no that’s not it. A fanfare kicks it and some marching drums and medieval sea shanty singing follow forwith! It’s awesome it’s your soundtrack to watching an evil wizard summoning a many headed serpent to attack the damsel in distress only for when everything seems bleakest a knight to ride in on his mighty steed to a fanfare and then back to the pub for sea shanties and lashings of ginger ale. Who can’t relate to that? Fuck Arctic Monkey’s this is the soundtrack to your night out! Can I give this album five stars yet?
Okay if you’ve been following this feature you’ll remember the Iced Earth review; it was a pretty epic affair. Well Emperor manage to harness all the pomposity and ludicrousness of Iced Earth’s medival gothic wankery, speed it up a million times, put thudding drums over it and actually make it sound cool. No I’ve not gone total insane, this is pretty fun stuff. Ensorcelled By Khaos is the perfect example, the guitars swirl and the piano line bounces with the drums thunder creating an insane looping waltz that sends you into a pleasant trance and you don’t even notice that Its been going on for five minutes, then the waltz drops and the a pummelling hurricane of smashing and crashing blows combine with some epic keys and over the top lyrics. It’s absolute and total nonsense but it’s really quite good fun. Make no mistake they lyrics are silly, but there’s enough visceral energy in the delivery to over come its silly moments. Make no mistake your still a dork to be listening to this but you won’t be laughing at what you’re listening to and the tracks are suitably vicious that no one will be laughing at you either. But do you know what’s best of all? I’ve learnt a new word Enscorcelled, how cool is that, I’ll be sure to drop it entirely inappropriately in conversation, and you know what, no one will have a fucking clue what it means and won’t care call me up on it, how cool is that. Christiano Ronaldo has really Enscorcelled Alex Ferguson.
There is one big problem though, and it seems that every band with Gothic, Fantasy and medieval intent tend to make. After listening to twenty five minutes of ear shredding epic adventure do you know how many tracks I’ve heard? Five, yep, five. Here’s a hint for all you aspiring Opera rockers out there just because you think your penning the new Lord Of The Rings doesn’t mean it has to be as long as all three of the fucking movies combined. A couple of three minute cracks could really have done the trick.
The Acclamation Of The Bonds has a bigger more raw bang for its buck, with the lead singer blowing down all three of the little piggies houses at once. This track also shows of the bands excellent control of melody and rhythm while their are pounding the holy hell out of there instruments they opted not to bury themselves in their own fuzz, instead the sound is crispy and clear and actually has a nice pitter patter beat to it. As the bell tolls the band slow down and return to a more generic metal sound only to unleash thirty seconds of venom when out of nowhere an angelic synth sound rings out like the eye of a hurricane, only for the pounding to resume.
The lead guitar sound on this album is very well constructed remaining clear and crisp over the top of a pounding rhythm section, and it does very well to keep the album sounding relatively fresh even if the rhythm section only has one gear. Another nice feature of the album is its own pomp and how these surprises emerge out a thudding dark background. With Strenght I Burn has the same thrashing guitars and pounding full steam ahead rhythm we are now well accustom too but suddenly a town prior medieval peasant voice sings it, its total ridiculous but it’s totally different to everything that’s gone before as he sings about “Scattering the ashes of destiny”. Then the deeper Emperor voice emerges and its like there singing for the freedom/control of this mortals soul. It’s unbelievably dumb but quite fun. Unfortunately the track clocks in at over eight minutes. Metal bands need to understand, its not dance music, you can’t get a crowd entranced and lost in the beat for eight minutes as the Deejay subtly mixes in the next track, you can’t achieve a trance with metal it can’t become part of the background because the music is fundamentally abrasive. Thus if you are going to commission yourself to over five minutes a track they’ve got to be fucking epic. That said this track is epic and while the conclusion is rather limp it’s an excellent centrepiece for a superbly pretentious album.
This does lead to the final point of contention with this album, it has three bonus tracks. If they are included as part of the review they are totally superfluous, make the album bloated and criminally over long. At eight tracks, two of which are intros and outros the album is perfectly balanced and well crafted. I’ve decided to give the album the benefit of the doubt, and discount the bonus materiel but be warned, you’re in for a seriously long hall if they are included. Although Opus Of A Santana is a more suitably OTT track to close the album than The Wanderer.
Final Thoughts: This is a mind boggling listen, you’ve had fun, heard some cool guitars, fast drumming, some very silly but melodic singing that remarkably doesn’t overstay its welcome but your left with one question, why on earth would anyone want to make music like this? Why am I listening to this? Do I really relate to Demon’s and Knights? It’s always a bad sign if an album has you asking why on earth your listening to it in the first place but this album unlike Iced Earth treads just the right side of the fun/embarrassment divide and is the one and only Dungeons and Dragons mega metal album you will ever require. (****)
Track To Download: The Loss And Curse Of Reverence, Enscorrolled By Khaos, With Strenght I Burn
Gareth’s Proffesional Opinion:
Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk is one of the seminal classic albums that are often muttered in hushed reverent tones in metal circles. Considered to be the crème de la crème of Black Metal by some and a defining moment in modern extreme music, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk is certainly an album that generates considerable debate much like the genre in which it stands out from. Certainly black metal has perhaps more than any other branch of metal attracted a considerable degree of rumour, hearsay and controversy. Whilst concerned parents, bible bashers and conservatives throughout Europe and North America combed through heavy metal lyrics citing often wildly ridiculous or ambiguous lyrics as signs of devil worship and satanic skulduggery, the beast was very much alive and well and becoming a potent musical force in its own right in Scandinavia.
Black Metal emerged as a very evil, very satanic, and very misanthropic assault on the human condition, the human species, and most notably, the Christian God. Whilst its musical roots are based in thrash and speed metal; black metal itself became the very real incarnation of pure fucking evil both in terms of style and substance. Whilst the conservative and Christian right pondered weakly over tea and biscuits at the PTA meeting over whether Iron Maiden were going to corrupt the youth of the nation with tracks like Number of the Beast, bands emerged from the flourishing Norwegian Black Metal scene like Dark throne, Immortal, and Emperor that openly preached outright hate towards Christianity, the burning of churches, the defacement of cemeteries, and a subculture within the genre or Aryan Nationalism, National Socialism, and often violent Homophobia. Famous incidents that characterise Black Metals more extreme nature are the campaign of church burnings across Scandinavia, the macabre suicide of Mayhem vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin aka Dead, Emperor Drummer Bard ‘Faust’ Eithuns murder of a homosexual man in woodland near Lillehammer in 1992, and perhaps most famously the murder of Mayhem guitarist Oystein Aarseth aka Euronymous by Burzum founder Kristian ‘Varg’ Vikernes. Nice blokes all of them.
Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk by Emperor is the bands second full length album. Whilst production values are up on their debut release, it’s still easy to miss much of what was going on. The debateable sound quality is nonetheless not a huge stumbling block to getting through this album. Personally the vocals are an irrelevance. Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk is all about the music, and this is simply a symphonic masterpiece of extreme metal. Superbly crafted and blending some superb hooks, beautiful sweeping melodies, and generally sensational musicianship including the awesome drumming of Trym. Tracks such as The Acclamation of Bonds perfectly highlight how fucking good musically this band are. Awesome drumming and crashing guitars give way to a superb change of pace on 2.07; completely out of the blue into one of my favourite hooks ever in a song. Disturbing but beautiful. That’s what Emperor do best. This album rarely slips below utterly compelling and completely inspiring.
There are of course criticisms. Some of it’s a bit overblown certainly. However the biggest criticisms I have for Emperor are simply that they’re a band that carry the dogma, bullshit, and utter retardation of their genre around their fucking necks like a curse. Personally I utterly detest any association with Satanism, church burning, homophobic violence and the sort of unbridled hate that the band represents. Not to say they’re all maniacs. Ihsahn teaches music at his local school nowadays and is married with children. I’m well aware that if I have a problem with that I’m missing the point of Emperor and probably shouldn’t listen to them. But I genuinely love the music. The other big criticism is tongue in cheek in that this masterpiece inspired a generation of complete and utter bullshit and knock off shock merchants that need to fucking die.
By all means feel uncomfortable with what this sort of stuff represents; but don’t hate the music on this album.
Conclusion: One of the all time great extreme metal albums. Ripped off and imitated consistently for the last ten years with nothing even remotely close to this standard of musicianship. A dark and disturbing masterpiece. 9.5/10
Download: Ye Entrancemperium, The Loss and Curse of Reveren, The Acclamation Bonds, With Strength I Burn.
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