Emperor

Setlist :

Into The Infinity Of Thoughts/ The Burning Shadows Of Silence/ Cosmic Keys To My Creations & Times (medley)
Thus Spake The Nightspirit
An Elegy Of Icaros
Curse You All Men
With Strength I Burn
Towards The Pantheon
The Majesty Of The Nightsky
The Loss And Curse Of Reverence
In The Wordless Chamber
Inno A Satana
The Wanderer (from tape)
I Am The Black Wizards
Ye Entranceperium
Opus A Satana (from tape)

A little background for readers before Norway 's Emperor became one of the most influencial Black Metal bands to emerge in the 90's there were their forefathers Bathory who basically invented the pure and artistic, blasphemous, Black Metal form of music. Over their ten year existence Emperor clearly rose to the occasion as one of the major names to sit beside Bathory's throne at the altar of the black arts.

After many years of doing well over seas touring European countries, disbanding and now reforming, the band arrives in the States for some select shows as bands from their genre of music rarely, if ever, come to or are even allowed to, tour this country. Case in point as guitarist Samoth unfortunately was unable to make it into the country for these American dates due to VISA issues.

While no longer donning corpse paint makeup to categorize themselves as soldiers of Satan, Emperor's music speaks for itself. Over the course of 5 albums singer Ihsahn took their sound from an almost primitive, yet dynamic, origin for the classic “In the Nightside Eclipse” to incorporating clean vocals and more orchestrated arrangements for the dynamic “IX Equilibrium” opus.

As a writer and listener of Black Metal, I can tell you Emperor are clearly a talent focusing their attention on both the brutal and orchestrated, artistic yet blasphemous aspects of Black Metal. While the stage at BB Kings is not the biggest to work with as far as stage production the band were at least able to hang a few backdrops with their logos and were also equipped with several moving lights that were a great addition to the show. This was their second of two sold out nights in NYC and I bet many didn't think this genre of Heavy Metal really earned this type of respect but you know what…..if done the right way why shouldn't it .