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Rating: A few years ago, coinciding with the Emperor's decade anniversary, Candlelight released a double celebration disc of the trio from Telemark, a summary of the numerous works published by the group.
The concept of a Best Of in the Metal field takes on a different meaning than that of a chart-topping genre like pop: even the most inattentive listener is familiar with the discography of their favorite band, buying both the latest and the oldest albums; in extreme metal, where passion turns into a frenzy of listening, the Best Of remains something unthinkable, distant. However, Candlelight seems to ignore this, and they propose to the market an astonishing product, both in its form and size, the result of a misguided policy that has materialized over recent years. But let's go slowly.
"Scattered Ashes" is divided into two parts: the first CD offers a collection of the most successful tracks by Emperor, a sort of Greatest Hits that spans the entire career of the Emperor: from the first self-titled to the last "Prometheus". Each album is represented by a couple of songs, a few more for the masterpiece "In The Nightside Eclipse". Nothing scandalous, apparently. The second CD, however, presents some "gems", including covers of historic bands from the Black scene and beyond (Mayhem, Bathory, Merciful Fate); some remixes, rare tracks, and forgotten pearls from the band's early days "enrich" it. Even here, seemingly a clever choice to offer longtime fans a series of pieces they would otherwise struggle to find.
However, that's on paper. Because in reality, this operation falls apart at the seams. The selection on the first disc is fundamentally useless because it disappoints longtime fans, who likely already have all the material present (or most of the songs, those taken from "In the Nightside Eclipse" and "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk") and doesn't satisfy even the new fans, who might have preferred some selection criteria (chronological, by importance...): in trying to please everyone, Candlelight ends up displeasing them.
The second disc is almost a scam: the rare pieces are not difficult to find at all; most of the covers are predictable, and the only ones that stand out are "Funeral Fog" by Mayhem and "Aerie Descent" by Thorns. The older pieces from "Wrath of The Tyrant" are truly interesting, but here we are not judging the music, but the discographic choices. There's even a remixed version of "Sworn," from "Ix Equilibrium," which wasn't a masterpiece in its original version... Compared to other interesting initiatives in the extreme field, this disc has no reason to exist: even when comparing this Best Of to others on the market, it's truly baffling to understand the decision to launch such a dreadful product: a decade-long career like Emperor's would have deserved far different celebrations, such as the anthology dedicated to Six Feet Under where the visual side joins the sound, the live with the studio.
Instead, Candlelight first released a live DVD, then a live CD, then a perverse Greatest Hits like this one: they burned three discographic releases and tarnished the Emperor's name for unknown reasons. They could have even opted for a tribute album, which always makes its mark. Buy their albums or don't, but not this.
Very bad.
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