This is the second live posthumous album I have reviewed recently from a band who really should need absolutely no introduction. Unlike Ministry though, they had already called it a day before reforming for a clutch of live dates, playing all the classics for one last time. We do of course already have one live documentation from Emperor on CD and DVD ‘Emperial Live Ceremony’ (2000) recorded at the LA2 in London in 1999, a show which was in my opinion the best time I have seen them.
This double album, although not offering anything that any self respecting Emperor fan will not have encountered before should not be dismissed offhand as it looks to be an excellently put together package. The full release will come in several formats. The normal 2 CD package with a 16 page booklet, a limited edition box featuring 2 CD’s & DVD with an enhanced 24 page booklet, a single DVD, and two limited edition double-vinyl gatefold sets. The only choice you have to make is which one to actually pick up.
On the discs are two complete concerts. The first is from Emperor’s storming Inferno festival appearance in Norway 2006 and listening to it now I am really kind of kicking myself for not having gone. This sounds absolutely fantastic and with 15 tracks from the group’s career it pretty much contains everything you could possibly want to hear. The production is the real selling point it is crystal clear and you can really focus on everything going on, even from the frantic melee of the full pelt quagmire that is ‘The Loss and Curse of Reverence’ and Ihsahn’s vocals sound pretty damn perfect to me. It should also be said that I am listening to this through my PC speakers from a download promo, so on a proper stereo this should be spectacular and unlike being at the event itself you can grab a tin from the fridge and not have to pay £6-7 a pint.
Of course having said that, you do not get the atmosphere but I just could not help providing my own here and found I was badly crooning along to the likes of ‘Thus Spake The Nightspirit and ‘Curse You All Men’ in a completely unrestrained fashion. Back to the sound again and it’s great that you can pick out the individual guitar flurries on ‘Ye Entrancemperium,’ the sound mix here really is damn impressive and as I have said that twice and it is not something I normally fixate on it must have struck a nerve.
Moving onto disc 2 we have the set from Wacken Open Air 2006. This is slightly shorter having only 12 tracks and none of the tracks that were not featured on the last disc. You might think that this is a boring proposition and if you are not into Emperor at all you might well be right. However as far as I am concerned the strength and power behind the songs does not detract from my listening pleasure in the slightest even playing the two sets back to back.
Having said the sound was so fantastic disc one I approached this one with severe trepidation prior to the first spin. In my live review of the show I had described the sound as being raped, weedy and washing in and out and it had totally ruined it for me compared to the other one that I had seen from the reformation at The Astoria. What a difference hearing it recorded from the sound desk makes. Obviously this sounds a hell of a lot better and the added bonus is being able to press play without having to sit around suffering Whitesnake before it!
It’s difficult picking out favourites from the sets, everything is pretty much fantastic and I find myself looking back on the one track aired from ‘Prometheus’ ‘In The Wordless Chamber’ being an old favourite now, something I would never have expected on hearing that particular album first time round. The label are actually pressing a special gold 7” vinyl (limited to 2000) with ‘Nightspirit’ on one side and ‘Inno A Satana’ on the other and I cannot fault that choice in the slightest (they are probably all gone by the time you read this).
Anyway there is very little left to be said on this chapter of Emperor and it is honestly very unlikely there will be another one written as the book is surely closed. I would have said this was worth picking up for disc one alone and to get the second is just an added bonus making this a pretty much essential purchase to the legacy of probably the most important black metal band in the world.
http://www.emperorhorde.com
http://www.candlelightrecords.co.uk
