Boring Symphonic Black Metal - "In the Nightside Eclipse" Review (9%)
Emperor is without a doubt one of the most overrated pseudo-black metal acts of the so-called extreme metal scene. They're "revered", mainly by poser metal critics, as one of the greatest bands ever to merge black metal (black metal? you sure?) with symphonic orchestral elements. But let's be honest... try listening to albums like Anthems to the Welkin at Dust, IX Equilibrium and Prometheus - The Discipline of Fire & Demise, and you will soon find a very basic formula: little chunks of generic pseudo-black metal awkwardly mixed with pompous and overused orchestral parts and a few inconsistent half-arsed speed metal riffs.
They're constantly put in competition with their compatriots Dimmu Burger and their British cousins Cradle of Filth, both considered by any true black metal fan as goth faggy clowns because of their crappy emo sound and their laughable pseudo-satanic image.
Well, Emperor may have a more "trve satanik" black metal image, but most of their music is still inconsistent and far from being what people call real heavy metal. And their satanic image is so obviously fake and commercial, the result is that they end up being even more ridiculous and poserish than Cradle of Filth's goth theatrics.
Hence the birth of their most crappy album in 1994, which is also their debut black metal act: In the Nightside Eclipse.
Boring Symphonic Black Metal
Where symphonic black metal bands like Ceremonial Castings and Vesperian Sorrow make use of orchestral elements to craft epic atmospheres that pervade the mind of the listener, Emperor only manages to sound generic and derivative.
Nowhere on In the Nightside Eclipse is this better highlighted than on the opening track, Into the Infinity of Thoughts. The entire song (over eight minutes long) is comprised of the same boring riff repeated ad nauseum.
In the Nightside Eclipse isn't by any means a well-performed album at all. This is about as sloppy and generic as Emperor ever sounded, coming off considerably less as a cohesive album and more like a cheesy professionally recorded rehearsal tape of the worst quality. The fact that something this weak and demo-like was a signed and released as a legit full length in the first place is cause for concern, but the uninspired pseudo-orchestral music is really what kills the album.
It really does feel like the band was just jerking it during the recording sessions with no sense of atmosphere or soul during their escapades... just play whatever, hit record, let's do this and be done with it. Maybe if Emperor had put a little more effort into sounding like a real black metal band with real aspirations versus some guys with "orchestral" instruments making a generic symphonic metal album the result wouldn't be as bad as In the Nightside Eclipse. Then again, maybe not... the problem really is the uninspired music that lacks any form of intensity whatsoever.
But in the end In the Nightside Eclipse just doesn't sound like a true black metal album so much as a derivative photocopy of a style made to fit in and look cool.
If you want to hear some true symphonic black metal played at its finest, their are so many great bands to choose from that play much better music than anything you could find on this album. Antekhrist's legendary Fukked by God is easily the most evil masterpiece the symphonic black metal sub-genre has ever spawned, and you should seriously check it out instead of wasting your time on In the Nightside Eclipse.
In the Nightside Eclipse score: 9/100.
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