Emperor

About Emperor

Emperor, formed in Notodden in 1991 by Ihsahn and Samoth, brought symphonic ambition and compositional complexity to Norwegian black metal. Their 1994 debut In the Nightside Eclipse, with its layered keyboards and intricate arrangements, is one of the genre's most influential records. The band was entangled in the scene's early criminal history — drummer Bård Faust was convicted of murder, and Samoth of church arson — but the music pushed black metal toward the progressive and symphonic directions later bands would follow. They reunite periodically for festival headline sets.