Prometheus: Discipline of Fire & Demise

Emperor | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 9, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Candlelight
• ASIN: B00005OB0M
• In-Print Editions: MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (66 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #73,987 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #79 in Music > World Music > Europe > Scandinavia > Norway

Editorial Reviews

EMPEROR PROMETHEUS - THE DISCIPLIONE OF FIRE & D

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

35 of 36 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A landmark release. One of my 5 favorite metal albums, February 21, 2004

By 

General Zombie (the West) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prometheus: Discipline of Fire & Demise (Audio CD)

Opinions on this album seem to be somewhat divided, which comes as no surprise I suppose, as it isn't at all similar to Anthems or Dusk. Personally, I stand in the minority and consider this to be a far greater achievement than thoes 2 albums.(great as they are.)

This is the most dense metal album I've ever heard.The first time you listen to it you will probably not remember too much of it. Anyone who is unwilling to listen to this album carefully and repeatedly might as well not bother, as they are unlikely to get too much out of it. Personally, I don't think I fully appreciated it until about my 20th listen. Tempo changes are constant, with some truly ferocious and dense drumming from Trym. There is a near perpetual weaving of multiple guitar parts varying between lead-rhythm interplay, harmonies and competing leads in essentially every song. Fortunately, the guitar is work both tasteful and virtuosic, and is never emotionless or aimless. In fact, despite the abundance of leads, there aren't really any conventional solos to be found here. It all flows beautifully. All this is topped combined with heavy, though never cheesy, synth work, most commonly strings with some piano and harpsichord. This has by far the best synth work on any metal album I've heard.(which admitedly, isn't much of a prize.) I tend not to be too huge a fan of a lot of black metal vocalist, who frequently sound a bit goofy. This album is an exception. Ihsahn's shriek-growling is always filled with genuine emotion, and he never goes overboard. The clean vox are nice too. He obviously hasn't got the greatest voice your gonna here, but he generally rights good melodies to go along with. (which is what really matters.)

It is initially a rather combative and harsh listen, with many parts which are intentionally discordant and actively anti-melodic to go along with the straight metal bludgeoning and melodicism which is found elsewhere. It is in this balance that it finds it strength. The contrast makes each section that much more powerful, and Ihsahn knows just when to change from one tone to another. On top of this, Emperor manages make the songs have varying and distinctive tones.(Unlike some more progressively oriented bands, which have each song have many different sounding parts, but seem to have the same parts in about the same ratio in every song, which makes it repetitive in spite of the many changes.) Depraved is especially harsh and violent, The Prophet more melodic and immediately memorable, Empty combines blistering speed with some powerful melodicism and The Eruption is kinda of mixture of all three etc. It's hard to pick out standout tracks as they are all outstanding, but The Eruption, The Prophet, Grey and In the Wordless Chamber are all especially spectacular.

This is a concept album, and I don't fully understand what it's about so I won't go into it much, though I will say that it boasts unusually intelligent and compelling lyrics, which avoid tediously blunt religious bashing and ridiculous frozen/pagan/winter/forest/wolf garbage. Lyrics are of little concern to me, and I love many albums with the aforementioned lyrical themes(by this band, in particular) but it's always nice to see something different.

The only real notable weakness here is that the closing track, Thorns On My Grave, is the weakest.(though it is still good.) It's always best to go out on a high note, especially when it's a concept album.

Anyone who enjoys dense, progressive heavy metal needs to check this out. Even if you aren't a fan of black metal you need to hear.(Frankly, most traits which nonfans dislike in black metal aren't even found here.) This is truly a unique and powerful work.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The soul is not silent, but wordless., March 16, 2003

By 

E. Halvorsen (Norway) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Prometheus: Discipline of Fire & Demise (Audio CD)

There are some records that remain pillars & reference-point for other bands to follow. I can mention Metallica's "master of puppets" of trash-metal. Iron Maidens "The number of the beast" of classic heavy metal. Emperor is supposed to be the master of the black metal sub-genre, but their previous records, although championed as great works of art, was not quite up in the league of grand all time metal-pillars.

Their first album "In the nightside eclipse" is mindblowing in every way, but it is too haunting and bleak even for the metal community to absorb, nor was the production up to standard.

Their second album "Anthems to the welkin at dusk" had better production, and although it is even more ferocious and fast- paced than its predecessor it still comes across as more digestable for non-black metal fans. The problem with that record was that it alienated purist black metal fans with its expanded emphasis on classical atmosphere & composition.

Now I'm supposed to say that this one has it all, and in one way I do. This is possibly the pillar they've long sought to create, however it is no longer of black metal. It's a pillar of something else, something of its own.

Compared to "In the nightside eclipse" this one lacks the obvious & accessible melodic majesty. It has the same spatious feel though. Compared to "Anthems to the welkin at dusk" it lacks the continiuous symphonic layer that intermesh the ferocious metal drive. The wall of sound approach is traded in for a more spatious feel.

Compared to both of the above, this one has a stronger influence of trash-metal (though still only periodically). It is more progressive, with overwhelmingly complex compositions. It has the best production of any Emperor album. Moreover. It is an incredibly coherent work, both musically and lyrically. There's more normal singing than ever before, and the individual achievements of every band-member is at its peak. There's no filler.

The downpart is that all of this makes the album very little accessible. This is not a commercially intended work though. It's ment as art, and as nothing else. It may pass over the heads of most metal fans, but those who are willing to give time and attention to explore a work of art are likely to find that this is a pillar. A renewal of metal, no less.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing. Just amazing, April 24, 2005

By 

Metal_fan - See all my reviews

This review is from: Prometheus: Discipline of Fire & Demise (Audio CD)

I am left floored by this album, from the "There was nothing" at the beginning to the epic end of this majestic CD. And after the album ends, I don't move or anything, don't go and put in a new CD, I just stay where I am, speechless. And I can't listen to anything else, because this album is so great, I can't listen to anything else, even Anthems or Nightside eclipse. Nothing else compares.

First off, this album is the most cerebral music I've heard. It's cerebral, even for Emperor. And the riffs and such are technically stunning. This album, if you give it a chance, will leave you speechless, just like it left me speechless. Why, do I say, then, give it a chance? Well, even though the production is excellent, the main thing is that this is the densest metal I've ever laid my ears on. You won't remember most of it the first time you listen to it, but it will slowly absorb into you the more you listen to it. It has conflicting melodies, interweaving guitar lines, flurrying keyboards, and sometimes three or more completely different lines working together to make something excellent and stunning.

Another thing, nobody gives Ihsahn credit for his voice. It's not Vintersorg (of Borknagar, Vintersorg)'s voice, but hey, it's still above average. And his scream of "THORNS ON MY GRAVE!!!!" at the end of the last song sends chills down my spine.

Tempo changes, fast flurrying drums, slow 6/8 grooves, and unidentifiable drum patterns mark this album, with interesting beats flavoring sections right after the traditional black metal blastbeats have lost their impressiveness. The guitars interact with the drums in rather odd ways, choosing to play on only some of the hits, and the choice of which sub beat to play on makes for some genuinely unusual music.

With this album, Emperor traded "Dark" and "Bleak" to "Psychologically intense." While still being dark in areas, this album's signature is the unending tension that pulls at your soul. Keyboards creating dissonant melodies that human ears are not used to hearing, and guitars overlap in weird ways that tug at our minds, saying "This isn't supposed to be" but oddly enough, it works.

The album kicks off with Ihsahn speaking with some background thunder, then a keyboard intro begins, rather softly. It builds intensity, with increasing melodic tension, then the guitar goes "BAM." and comes in with crushing intensity. It builds in intensity again, then kicks into high gear and gets fast. Then it goes through odd, original, and downright bizarre permutations of the original melody, before cutting out and making way for "Depraved", where it starts out rather amelodic, with dissonant notes not resolving and building up tension, then heading into more melodic passages, going through slow 6/8 grooves before kicking into high gear, then dropping out all of a sudden and making way for the strikingly similar song after it, Empty, which has more melodicism and emotion, resolving the conflict created by the previous song. It continues into the rather subdued "The prophet" which has slow, pop-ish sections of Ihsahn singing, followed by demonic dissonance that only true satanists like Ihsahn can create. The rest of the album continues in this way, with drawn-out tension and short relief until you reach the last song, Thorns on my Grave, which has some incredibly fast drumming, and goes into a slow 4/4 groove, before cutting out and going in again at full speed, building in intensity with keyboards flurrying around with increasing dissonance, with the guitars hustling underneath and Ihsahn screaming at the top of his lungs: "NOW THAT I AM GONE, LAY THORNS ON MY GRAAAAAAVE!!!!!!" and the song abrubtly ends, along with the rest of the album, and you sit there motionless, not knowing what to do, except start all over again. Then you go through it, hoping you will remember more of it, so you can hum it in your head or something. I'm on my 6th or so listen and there's STILL new stuff in there for me. If you are only going to listen to this in your portable CD player in the breaktime (whatever it is) then you won't like that. You have to devote your entire attention to this, and listen to it several times before appreciating it's full impact. In fact, I think I might have to listen to this the whole way through about 20 times before I fully get it.

As far as favorite songs go, I don't have any, simply because this album is a concept album (about Emperor's career) and you really have to listen to the whole album to get the idea. It's like the whole album is a song, only with occasional breaks in it. So, my reccommendation is, buy this, and listen to it a lot. If you can't listen to it a heck of a lot, don't buy it. You will never appreciate it if you can't listen to it a giant portion of your time.