This is pretty good stuff for a black metal EP produced in 1992. The production is the same caliber as some finished studio releases of this era (I am thinking of Burzum and Darkthrone, for example). And the vaunted "Norwegian" sound is definitely present: one can recognize this as the cousin to not just old school BM like Mayhem, Darkthrone, and Immortal but more recent stuff like Dimmu Borgir and Ancient as well. So, in that sense, this has the Norwegian flavor that we all know and love. I guess what strikes me is that the songs are well-crafted. This is a year before In the Nightside Eclipse, and the quality is not lacking. My major complaint is that it's too short!
With an amazing mood-setting intro of 45 seconds, "Into the Infinity of Thoughts" opens this black metal masterpiece with a bang. Of all the black metal albums with keyboards, this one strikes the best balance of all of them. And the riffs are still quality Norwegian riffs, worthy of old Mayhem or Immortal! I love this album. I can't even think of words to describe my love for this album. Any fan of true, evil black metal who doesn't own this should be removed from existence. And man, does Ihsahn's voice sound evil, or what? The thing that knocked this down from 5 to 4½ is that two of these songs are not new: "I am the Black Wizards" and "Cosmic Keys to my Creations and Times" both appeared on 1993's self-titled EP. That's just a pet peeve of mine.
To tide fans over until the official release of Anthems, Emperor put out this little EP. It contained only three tracks: "The Loss and Curse of Reverence" (which would later appear on the Anthems album), "Opus a Satana" (which is an entirely instrumental track inspired by 1994's "Inno a Satana"), and "In Longing Spirit." Compared to the brilliance of their full-lengths, this pales. The two actual metal songs are very good. But, as I said above, "...Reverence" does appear on an album, so the only metal song someone gains by buying this is "In Longing Spirit" (assuming that they own Anthems). So, how is "In Longing Spirit?" It's a good song. The production is better than Nightside, and the song itself is consistent with what they've done before. Instead of tracking down this EP, go out and buy the digipak version of this and Anthems (on one disc) which contains a live version of the "The Loss and Curse of Reverence" and a video for it as well. That is money well-spent.
Although alot of "hardcore" and "underground" black metal fans will scoff at me for saying this, I think that this is perhaps one of the best black metal albums ever. I definitely think it rates higher than anything ever attempted by Bathory or other old-school black metal groups. And it kicks the crap out of pretty much everything from the 90s too (some of Mayhem's stuff being an obvious exception...maybe). So what makes this album so good? Well, it is killer fast, and it still has a strong guitar sound. On many melodic/keyboard-heavy black metal albums, the guitar sounds really weak in the mix (Cradle of Filth is especially guilty of this), and as a result it sounds less "metal" than it should. Emperor does not do that here. The guitars are very in-your-face. But the keyboards are strong, too. The overall mood is kind of medieval. Like some of Enslaved's stuff from the same period, this stuff makes me envision the center of a battlefield somewhere in northern Europe in the middle ages. And I espcially like the fact that there is diversity in the song writing: all of the songs do not sound the same. I cannot praise this album highly enough.
The Emperor tracks are, for the most part, very different from most of their other stuff. The first track is "Exordium," which seems to be Emperor manipulating guitars and keyboards in an almost industrial/electronica fashion. Track three is the next Emperor track, "I Am". This is loosely based on their infamous "I Am the Black Wizards," but more of a remixed post-modern version with some samples from an old Thorns song thrown in. Track four is "Aerie Descent," which is a Thorns song performed by Emperor. To be honest, it sounds like it would not be out of place on Anthems.... It is a very good song, with a classic black metal feel to it...but still enough electronic manipulations in it to sound new. And finally, track five, "Thus March the Nightspirit," is an entirely orchestral/keyboard-laden track based on "Thus Spake the Nightspirit" from 1997's Anthem's to the Welkin at Dusk. It is a very faithful version of the song. The other four songs are performed by Thorns, and as such can be found on my Thorns page. As an Emperor album, I am giving this 3½, because I feel like this was more to showcase Thorns than give Emperor an outlet for music.
