DIGITALMETAL.COM It goes without saying that Emperor will be remembered as one of the 1990's few majestic metal acts. In fact, no other metal act in that decade, save Opeth or Carcass, produced albums as consistently envelope-pushing, genre-defining and grandiose as Emperor. Certainly, no other extreme metal act came close to presenting a triarchy of albums (In the Nightside..., Anthems to the Welkin..., and IX Equilibrium), as impressive or more importantly, as influential as Emperor. Nevertheless, with a new album on the horizon, rumors of Samoth and Ihsahn's creative difficulties circulated throughout the spring and summer. Then it was announced that the band had made the crucial decision to end Emperor's metallic reign with a final swansong album. Word spread about Ihsahn's stranglehold over the album's composition, unearthing nightmares of a Peccatum proportion. What more could they offer, as many felt they had achieved their peak chaotic form over the past two releases? Cut the crap, give up the drama people, this is fucking Emperor! Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise rains down more brimstone hellfire, symphonic apocalypse and genre-destroying genius than 95 percent of black metal's most boorishly cursed - combined! This is a masterpiece of crucifying originality and immeasurable importance. A seamless journey through the peaked depravities of metal's finest sub-genres, Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise is pure metal royalty, sitting alongside At the Gates Slaughter of the Soul, as the finest swansong ever in metal. Few albums flow like a cinematic river, with every composition of utmost importance to the gravity of the whole, let alone sink their listeners into an inescapable aural spectacle of Star Wars proportions. It seems they've taken the scope of Anthems to the Welkin..., the fierce technical tenacity of IX Equilibrium, mixed them together and poured a flowing stream of abstract ideas, symbiotic metal genres and commanding intelligence out. What amazes though, is their ability to maintain this balance of constant discord, brutality and beauty with uncanny facility. Thematic overtones stitch each melody and nuance together like the mythic gowns of ancient gods, rendering them impenetrable, yet stately and enigmatic in nature. "The Eruption" is a fitting beginning as Baroque harpsichords set the tone for this horror-show soundtrack in the making. Ihsahn adopts his chosen role as 'guitar god' to fester our appetite for sweltering harmonics, recalling Death or Dream Theater's finest moments. Like a two-headed serpent, Ihsahn's twin vocal attack is a blessing in disguise as his delicate use of clean vocals, adds further dimension to Emperor's complex soundscape. The symphonic overtones and piercing wall of guitars are married into a metallic, progressive mold the likes of which no extreme metal fan has seen (sorry, Dimmu Borgir!). "Depraved" and "Empty" demonstrate the album's revolutionary formula to a tee, linking thematically with the opener. Both throw a barrage of musical weapons and blackened tricks at the listener, mind-numbingly fluid in execution. They combine this with Samoth's growing brutal death metal roots, Tryms' cathartic battery and a classical orchestra of keyboards, harps and violins. Here is the trick though: Pure unadulterated flowing listenability (sounds like a Dimmu album). Emperor's unique ability as auditory cinematographers is more than evident here, as they compose distinct musical montages that would make every Psycho fan proud. Certainly if clusterfucks like Anthems... or IX Equilibrium hinted at surrealist glory, in the tradition of David Lynch-like soundscapes, then Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise slick complex beauty is more closely linked to epic productions like The Godfather or Star Wars trilogies. More bang for your buck, people! Cinematic metaphors aside, the approach comes alive when the triumphant "In the Wordless Chamber" first flattens listeners. Now this is epic metal, as a thunderous odyssey of battle horns rage the pummeling army of Emperor into a forward frenzy. When the song slows into a quiet passage full of John Williams' harps (think end of Empire Strikes Back), dreamy violins and vibrant keyboard drones, one is reminded of "Wizard of Oz" or something as equally fantastic. Then Trym's grinding battle fervor pulls the foundation from beauty, sending the song galloping back to hell. "The Prophets" starts with a grim guitar dirge, before Ihsahn's cosmic, surprisingly emotive vocals carry the song toward grinding, stratospheric harmonics and Morbid Angel lunacy. Near the end, keyboards pierce the listener like the blade of Norman Bates' murderous weapon. Winding guitar melodies weave well with Ihsahn's endless masterbatory solos making, "The Tongue of Fire," Emperor's catchiest song ever. Grungy, sleaze metal guitar has never sounded better and Ihsahn's King Diamond screams are mandatory. A pleasant surprise is "He Who Sought the Fire," an unmistakably brilliant car crash of In the Nightside's... cold black metal riffery (ala early Enslaved) and their newfound love of all things evil John Petrucci. Hell if I know, but the damn thing somehow works. Just when you think they couldn't do anything to top themselves, along comes their final moment, album closer "Thorns on My Grave," to further fuel one of metal's finest moments. Gone is the pretense. Emperor wants to kick the fucking piss out of you and your Cradle shirt wearing buddy's souls. Symphonic black metal be damned, they lay that genre to cold waste. When the song's pummeling Trym-powered intro breaks into a symphonic overture of sheer genius and shimmering magnitude (rivaled only by Dimmu's Enthrone Darkness...), the crumbling towers of 'Cradle Borgir' crash to irreverent death in the face of Emperor's superior maturated evil. Isn't it strange that they've either spearheaded or completely pre-dated every important black metal movement of the greater part of the nineties? Hmm, makes one wonder. Emperor has nothing to prove and nothing to lose from Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise. No band will be greater missed in this current dry state of underground metal. As for Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise it is the best 'pure' metal album since Opeth's Still Life and easily the best of this past year. R.I.P. JASON HUNDLEY go back