All Photos By Vincent Z/@VincentZMedia
On a short tour in the states of only 7 dates, the final night landing in Anaheim at one of my favorite venues and best reasons to see a show outside of Los Angeles, the House Of Blues hosted this monumental night that would bring Black Metal legends EMPEROR performing an album that has to be considered an absolute gem during the infancy of Black Metal as a whole in that of In The Nightside Eclipse. There are few bands in Black Metal that get frequent play with me and I wasn't going to let another opportunity of catching the Nordic Legends get by me. In a totally stripped down show, meaning no excessive gimmicks, just 5 guys coming together and re-creating a brilliant performance capturing the essence and whole concept of the nonconformist genre's musical expression of dark art.
Unfortunately I could not make it in time to catch American Blackened Folk Metal band WAYFARER who opened the night. Thankfully Vincent Z (@VincentZMedia) was able to capture some great shots for KNAC.COM. Their latest full-album release American Gothic (through Profound Lore Records) that came out in 2023 received a 90% on Encyclopedia Metallum and is definitely worth a listen. They will head back on the road heading to Europe in August on a 2 week trek.
On to the main event and EMPEROR with the intro to In The Nightside Eclipse played throughout the speakers to warn the crowd of the inevitable. Starting things off with the epic 8 minute opening track "Into The Infinity Of Thoughts" immediately had the crowd engaged, many who were singing along and would throughout the night. Shrouded in dark blue, the crowd was immediately raging with excitement.
Of my favorite performances of the night, jumping into only the 3rd song, one which originally appeared on their self-titled EP ('93) and the song "Cosmic Keys to My Creations And Times" had me imagining the forging of Black Metal with its high-speed intensity before breaking into melody. Then "Towards The Pantheon" started off with Jorgen's brilliant touch on the keys, making use of every space between notes as the crowd roared for them.
Their sound was executed to perfection, maintaining that raw, old school sound that Black Metal is largely respected and argued for.
The trio of Ishan, Samoth and Trym Torson keep the EMPEROR legacy alive after the past couple of decades had a couple of brief hiatuses, and along with bassist Secthdamon, and keyboardist Jorgen Munkeby who help provide the extra, over the top atmosphere to every song made this performance extra-ordinary.
After completing the album and aside from the omission of "Beyond The Great Vast Forest" (otherwise known as "My Empire's Doom" from the 1992 demo Wrath Of The Tyrant), they continued on with an extended encore, starting off excellently with "Curse You All Men!" from 1999's IX Equilibrium, kicking things off for a second wind. The rest of their set gave way to songs from 1997's Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk with "The Loss And Curse of Reverence", "Thus Spake The Nightspirit", "With Strength I Burn" and "Ye Entrancemperium", and from Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise ('01), "In the Wordless Chamber".
While many new age Black Metal bands are reliant on shrouds, outrageous on-stage armor, gauntlets and cows blood... not that there's anything wrong with that - all EMPEROR needed to do was let the music speak for itself as they performed flawlessly, transporting many die-hards back to the 90's with this outstanding performance of a timeless classic released 30 years ago.
Check out some more photos from the show!
All Photos By Vincent Z/@VincentZMedia
