Emperial Live Ceremony

As black metal's fully enthroned reigning kings, Emperor are truly an interesting, intriguing act, combining the soaring, operatic, orchestral sensibilities of classical music with the pomposity, technical skill, and brutality of various types of heavy metal. What emerges from that Norwegian cocoon is something entirely new, or if not entirely new, then a fully realized version of something that had been attempted by other acts. This live disc, which also incorporates multimedia — a video for "I Am the Black Wizards" and Emperor screensavers — was recorded and engineered during European touring for Equilibrium IX. Whether or not the tracks have been overdubbed — after all, black metal is not an easy medium to work in — remains fairly dubious. The drums have certainly been triggered, but whether additional vocals or guitars were cut, who knows. One thing is certain, Emperor prove mightily adept at conveying the full range of human emotion in song; from soaring, anthemic leads, to deep, murky Mahler-esque moods; to capturing the frightening solitude of a cold Scandinavian winterscape. Emperial Live Ceremony is not one of the best live albums ever recorded — or, for that matter, overdubbed and studio crafted, but it does indicate this outfit's superior abilities, songwriting abilities that eclipse most others working in the black metal idiom.