Emperor
In The Nightside Eclipse

THE REVIEW

"...ET TENEBRAE FACTAE SUNT IN UNIVERSAM TERRAM usque in horam nonam. ET OBSCURATUS EST SOL, et velum templi scissum est medium..." (Novum Testamentum secundum Lucam, caput 23, scripta 44-45)

Never did the mantle of Evil cover such vast regions of this poor, miserable world of ours. Never was Darkness celebrated in such a terrifying way. Never again did the Essence of Darkness manifest itself with such power. The deities of Hades inspired the minds and hands of the four infernal musicians and made them give birth to "In The Nightside Eclipse".

From the monumental intro flows a sulfurous, liquid sound, introducing the listener to the recesses of a world that should not be discovered...
The devastating riffs of "Into the Infinity Of Thoughts" burst forth, whirling furiously in hallucinatory games of solos and vocals that are nothing but a mere prelude to what the symphony of the eclipse still conceals. Ihsahn's scream is tormented, suffocated, claustrophobic in bringing to light one of the four black gems that composed the diadem of "Emperor". "Kosmic Keys To My Creations & Times" re-emerges, revealing its arcane aura of frost, once hidden by the characteristic raw production. The melody is scratched and distorted by a continuous feral solo that grows and seems to fade in harmony with a spectral choir. A sharp, thin ice pervades the body before the mind, infiltrating every single passage, in every vocal explosion of Ihsahn. Throughout, a tyrannical Faust prevails, with drumming that seems to mark the few, very few moments before Armageddon.
"Beyond The Great Vast Forest" displays a power that the band will never reach again. Samoth and Tchort fuse a piercing guitar and a dark, fierce bass, creating a unique and unrepeatable sound that resonates throughout the track like an omen of Death. A chilling scream in its lacerating purity opens "Towards The Pantheon". The melodic scheme is massive, anchored by an obsessive bass into which a frigid guitar insinuates itself, depicting an almost sensually perverse encounter.  A dark piano scale with hypnotic tones numbs the body like an unhealthy slumber... "The Majesty Of Nightsky", baroquely majestic, plunges the consciousness into a sick introspection. Samoth constructs a system of solos with dusky shades around an inhuman Ihsahn, whose voice narrates the mysteries of the night mantle with a malign reverberation, seeming to extinguish the stars and dim the celestial bodies, casting the cosmos into total darkness.
But the atrocious ascent has not yet found its peak...
That same hymn that tormented your nights and distanced you from Morpheus's embrace now resounds cloaked in a new, malevolent aura. "I Am The Black Wizard", stripped of the veil of impurity that once covered its dark beauty, now appears in all its ominous power
A fierce duet between drums and guitar envelops a scream painfully perfect. The initial fury wanes, replaced by a growing anxiety, evolving into a new instrumental insertion of unheard violence, this time enhanced by a sinuous solo of agonizing allure. The voice scourges the melody, superbly overlaying the guitar, assuming its same excruciating notes. The impetuous, thunderously insistent progression abruptly fades, making way for the gentle rise of a choir that darkly echoes. A growl blends in the final part, awakening a dark and violent instrumental power. The venomous, corrosive scream dominates the melody, distorting its complexity, brutalizing and simplifying it to a single, obsessive, infernal repetition of scream that slowly fades into an icy silence.
But there will be no time for peace. A gloomy bass and drum line introduces a choral insertion celebrating the Fallen Angel in Latin… the majestic and fierce sounds of "Inno A Satana" are accompanied by a scream that seems to rise from the inferno. An intricate and elegant instrumental part alternates with the very violent eruptions of a bass that infects with its somber laments a melody that seems to echo among the infinite naves of the Cathedral of the Damned. Samoth veils the symphonic sequences with piercing solos. The cadence is marked by disturbing pauses in which Ihsahn dialogues with a dark arpeggio, immediately followed by the aforementioned Gregorian choir, which, swaying, grows in intensity, obsessively repeating the title of the track, until it darkens the voice. A final, agonizing hiss... then everything is silent.