Essential Emperor!!!
Tony DeCastro | Charlotte, NC | 05/20/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Arguably the best black metal band ever, and one of the greatest metal bands period, Emperor ended their career way too early. Thankfully they reunited for a few festivals and even a handful of concerts here in the US back in 2006 and 2007. This double cd & dvd set was taken from two festivals over in Europe, and is easily one of the greatest live albums ever recorded. Rather than getting just the double cd version, be sure to pick up this box set, as the dvd is absolutely amazing. I was lucky enough to see Emperor when they toured the US in 1999, and can attest they put on one hell of a live show. The only drawback on the dvd is that the sound mix has Ihsahn's guitar way too far back in the mix, and you can barely hear it. The rest of the band sound perfect. The 2 cds are taken from 2 different shows. One is just the audio cd of the same show on the dvd. The other is taken from their set at the Inferno Festival. Thankfully, the sound problem with Ihsahn's guitar does not appear on this first cd, and you can hear all of his solos and guitar play with Samoth in all its glory. You also get 3 more songs - a massive early era "Wrath of the Tyrant", a blistering version of "Ye Entrancemperium", and the instrumental "Opus A Satana" as an outro. The cd's and dvd focus heavily on the "In the Nightside Eclipse" album, having every song from there with the exception of "Beyond the Great Vast Forest". This alone makes the set worth getting, but adding in the fantastic version of "Wrath of the Tyrant", and then throwing in "In The Wordless Chamber", from their last album "Prometheus", which they never toured on, makes this a must have album. The packaging is great, looking like a small hardback book, containing all the cd's/dvd inside each cover, and then having 20 pages like a book, containing lots of live pictures from these festivals. If you are even a minor fan of black metal at all, do yourself a favor and pick this box set up immediately, to see just how powerful a band Emperor was and still is. And be sure to support lead singer Ihsahn's solo career too, with his two solo albums, which are a definite continuation of the musical style found on Emperor's last studio album, "Prometheus.""
An excellent pair of live albums in one box
Svitty | 09/23/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"The two live CD's that you get with this boxset are two of the best live metal albums I have ever heard. They easily surpass "Emperial Live Ceremony" in terms of setlist, sound quality and overall badassedness.
Emperor played these two shows to near perfection, and the production value is at a very high level. Although it is not perfect, the audio quality is above par for live metal shows, it is a bit too bright, the double-bass was slightly muddled in the midst of the crowd screaming and the guitars wailing.
The DVD is nothing to write home about. It's good picture quality and is a solid addition to the boxset, as it is always good to see these guys performing in any fashion. But it's a little bare bones, I would have liked to have seen a few more shows added to the DVD, or perhaps some behind the scenes stuff. In the end what matters is the music on the CD's, and if you are looking at this, you know what you are getting: one of the best metal bands of all time playing two massive open-air concerts featuring their biggest songs...this one does not disappoint."
"Live Inferno" misnomer
Dave Holmes | Seattle | 06/25/2009
(2 out of 5 stars)
"Emperor! Live at Inferno Fest! In a DVD case! Containing the following!!:
1) CD: Emperor Live at Inferno Festival 2006
2) CD: Emperor Live at Wacken 2006
3) DVD: Emperor Live at Wacken 2006
...Now I'm no rocket scientist or nothing but the contents of this add up to "Live Wacken", not "Live Inferno".
This was unfortunately released on the same freaking date that they released the "Live Inferno" LP, "Live Inferno" CD, "Live at Wacken" LP and "Live at Wacken" DVD. Amidst the following, would it not be plausible thinking that this would contain Inferno footage (outside of the laughably unwatchable "bonus" footage)? Apparently not.
Emperor is indeed the best freaking black metal band in existence, even after their demise and 2 sub-par albums. No band has ever created music so divine (their second album was aptly titled, to be on topic). But Candlelight Records is notorious for whoring worthless merch out en-mass (a la Emperor Bubble Jackets and Emperor Backpacks etc).
And with that in mind, buy this knowing you're buying "Live Wacken" to expect a 5 star product. Expect "Live Inferno" and recieve an empty DVD case."
Track Listings (15) - Disc #1