«In the Nightside Eclipse» is Emperor’s first album and it was released on 21 February 1994 by Candlelight Records. The recordings were made in July 1993 at Grieg Hall in Bergen, with the band and Pytten producing. The line-up is Ihsahn on vocals, guitar and keyboards, Samoth on guitar, Tchort on bass and Faust on drums.
“`Country: Norway
Style: Symphonic Black Metal
For fans of: Mayhem, Burzum, Dissection
The album is one of the first to give Norwegian black metal a symphonic dimension. The keyboards play a big role, building atmospheres above the fast guitars and the extreme vocals. Much of the symphonic material was written inside the studio, since the band had no permanent keyboard player at the time.
«Into the Infinity of Thoughts», «The Burning Shadows of Silence», «Cosmic Keys to My Creations & Times», «I Am the Black Wizards» and «Inno a Satana» stand out.
The production was shared by the band with Pytten, who had worked on records by Mayhem, Burzum, Immortal and Enslaved. It is Emperor’s only album with drummer Faust and bassist Tchort.
«In the Nightside Eclipse» is regarded as one of the most important records in black metal and laid the foundations for the symphonic strand of the genre. The cover is a work by Kristian Wåhlin, also known as Necrolord.
Almost all of the music had been written and rehearsed before entering the studio, giving the album a coherence that stood out immediately. It remains a reference point for those looking for atmospheric black metal.
The album came out at a time when Norwegian black metal was at its peak and stood apart for its atmosphere and its grandeur.
See also
Bård «Faust» Eithun: the story of the Emperor drummer and Satyricon – Nemesis Divina | Metal Territory.
