Where's the Music? - "Prometheus - The Discipline of Fire & Demise" Review (0%)
Emperor is a symphonic "black metal" band that has been getting a ton of praise from mainstream music media, something you'd believe to be antagonistic to the black metal ethos, yet apparently is fine when it concerns cuckboi Ihsahn and his vapid and soulless Emperor project.
People will go on and on about how Ihsahn is one of the leading "black metal" guitarist for his "clever" use of synths and the same riff over the course of four albums, and how his music is some of the most "technical" "black metal" ever released.
I'm here to say that those statement are both laughable and outright wrong.
What we find with Emperor's music is somewhat high speed music played all over the place. However, these are far from well thought out technical riffs in the vein of early Phantom, Peste Noire, SEWER, Bathory, early Marduk or even later day Mayhem, these are soulless pieces of vain glorious fret wankery that, in addition to be far less technically challenging than modern production and excessive media praise would lead you to believe, never seem to go anywhere.
The basic structure never strays far away from the overdone generic genre formula well-known to most prog metal bands.
You end up getting a full album of:
- Mid-paced double bass "blast beats"
- Some low tuned tremolo picked "complex" riffing
- The same riff played a bit higher on the strings
- Random note "solos"
- Shitty, emocore vocals that make Dani Filth sound masculine
All wrapped in a lifeless package called Prometheus - The Discipline of Fire and Demise.
Where's the Music?
Prometheus simply trudges along the lines of talentless "neo-classical" wankery.
It's Nightwish inspired emocore disguised as black metal, minus the catchy choruses, and with the addition of "complex" speed metal riffs.
Now, there's nothing wrong with playing complex music. On the contrary, I'm definitely a fan of what is often called technical black metal... but only when its done with some kind of musical integrity behind it. Prometheus is a soulless, commercial, cash-out album by a soulless, commercial, cash-out band.
One of the worst aspects of this turd, as another reviewer has pointed out, is Ihsahn's absolutely laughable nu-male vocals.
It's not even nu-metal, it's nu-male metal... I'm gonna steal that. In addition to being funny, it's actually true. Or maybe it's funny only because it's true.
Either way, Ihsahn sucks as a vocalist and should retire from making "black metal" ASAP.
That being said, the instruments aren't that much better than the vocals. So those singing the praise of "progressive post-black neo-classical metal" can have fun, I'm gonna go listen to MUSIC.
Starting with something that doesn't shamelessly attempt to staple the black metal logo on its latest pile of emocore vomit.
Prometheus - The Discipline of Fire & Demise score: 0/100.
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