Customer Reviews

Scattered Ashes: Decade of Emperial Wrath

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

After releasing 'Prometheus, The Discipline of Fire and Demise,' Ihsahn, Samoth, and Trym decided to leave one more cd in remembrance of Emperor's amazing musical career. Thus, 'Scattered Ashes' spans the entire disography of Emperor with songs from their studio albums on disc 1, and rare tracks and covers on disc 2.

The album opens insanely with 'Curse You All Men' from 'IX Equilibrium.' Then, the songs move from Prometheus with 'The Tongue of Fire' all the way back to the album, In The Nightside Eclipse' with the song, 'The Majesty of the Night Sky.' There are 4 songs from 'Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk,' considered by many to be their best release. This inludes the live song, 'Thus Spake the Nightspirit' taken from 'Emperial Live Ceremony.' The songs are put in a certain distinct order so that the listener gets a feel for the differences in style that Emperor had despite being known as the best symphonic black metal band ever to come out of Norway.

This album is a great compilation to have in one's metal collection and even if one owns all of the Emperor releases, there are rare songs and great covers from bands like Bathory, Mayhem, and Darkthrone on disc 2. I have this in my cd player a lot because I love hearing the different Emperor songs on one disc! Emperor fans will be pleased with this compilation. HAIL EMPEROR!

Emperor's final release, a 2-disc set with music that spans their entire career. Disc 1 contains some of the best songs from their four proper album releases. Disc 2 contains the covers and the rarities, songs from albums out-of-print or hard-to-find. One would think it's the perfect "best of" album, right? Well...not really. While Emperor's music has always been consistently good, always delving into new territories of complexity and musical genius, this collection is uneven and incoherent. Each album Emperor ever put out had its own sound and feel...but mix it all up and it makes for an interesting but disjointed listen. The prodction differences between songs from "In the Nightside Eclipse" and "Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire and Demise" is far too evident, let alone the tracks from the demo album and the "Hordanes Land" split-CD. If Emperor had gone back and rerecorded certain songs to match the production quality that they are now capable of, then it might have made for a more listenable selection. Otherwise, it's hard on the ears to go from terrible production to good production to mediocre production and back again. The selection of songs however is the best facet of this collection. The band definitely put together what they truly felt was their best music. Some selections I personally would not agree with, but there is the sense that they actually put some thought into this collection. On the whole, it's a good way to say goodbye, and I will miss Emperor and forever regret that I didn't discover them until after they were gone. HAIL and Farewell!

Usually Best-Of collections leave a lot to be desired, since not everyone agrees on what the best songs are by a particular band it is very difficult to compile a best of collection onto one cd. This collection avoids that problem by releasing a HUGE 27 song double disc collection for the price of one disc. Every aspect of the bands career is covered here from the early self titled and "Wrath of the Tyrant" demos through their final album Prometheus: "The Discipline of Fire and Demise." Also included are a number of rarities such as a cover of Darkthrones "Cromlech" and Mayhem's "Funeral Fog". Both of these covers are very well excuted and fit in with the rest of the music here.

The only gripes that I have with this collection is the inclusion of a remixed version of "Sworn" instead of the album version. The remix is a very techno sounding track and to be blunt I hate it. The album version was one of their strongest tracks from "IX Equilibrium" so why not include it?

Aside from that one gripe I love having all the best songs along with some rarities for the price of a single disc album. It would be the perfect gift for someone either just getting into Emperor or a casual fan who wants a sampling of their best material. Overall, a best of collection done right from the guys over at Candlelight records.

Or not as the case actually is.

Emperor obviously need no introduction, as they were quite obviously the best black metal band ever. But I'll give a brief description of their sound anyway. Although progressing with each album, Emperor's hallmarks include screeching, manic guitar riffs, ethereal keyboard melodies evoking bleak Scandinavian winters, and pummeling precise percussion. My first contact with Emperor was when I bought the album Prometheus. It took me some time to really get to love that album, but it was well worth the effort. I then went on to explore the rest of their back catalogue. It's certainly an interesting journey, and I have to say that the cuts here do an excellent job of tracing Emperor's evolution, and giving the listeners the highlights of their albums.

The black disc, showcasing previously released material illustrates just how diverse Emperor could be. Always brutally aggressive, but mixing in passages of beauty and restraint which other bands could only dream of integrating so flawlessly. Highlights (amongst all the highlights)from this disc include Curse thee all men! The loss and curse of reverance, in the wordless chamber and Inno a Satana.

The silver disc is a collection of previously unreleased material, including covers of bands like Mercyful Fate and Mayhem, plus their own compositions. I think 'A fine day to die' is one of Emperor's greatest tracks, and I particularly enjoyed the cover of Mercyful Fate's Gypsy, but overall this disc is not of as high a quality as the black disc, although it does make an interesting listen, and is definitely worth having if the black disc contains nothing new for you.

Therefore, this compilation makes an excellent introduction to anyone wishing to explore the murky, viscerial, brutal world of Emperor, but is also definitely worth having for die hard fans.

Emperor was an amazing group, they are probobly the reason that black metal has become an known genre. They delivered black metal to many fans, of all kinds of extreme metal. The songs are compiled well (i would have a diffrent order though), and of course there is not a song thats not worth listening to on either of these 2 discs. My favorite part, is either the tracks from Prometheus, or the 'Wrath of the Tyrant' recordings. Though many songs from 'wrath...' were on In the nightside eclipse, I actaully prefer the "wrath of the tyrant" versions. The 2nd disc has some covers of classic black metal tracks, mostly from the earlier era. I was very suprised to hear the 'Prometheus' side of emperor, almost a very dark&heavy Dreamtheater type sound, a little bit more emotion, and very well delivered. This is a great comp. that I would recommend for any fan of black metal.

It's pretty simple, if you're a guitarist of any level and are interested in extreme metal, you should buy this now. It's one of the few official tabulature books covering extreme metal, and Emperor's talent in songwriting and arrangement is among the best in the genre. There is so much to learn from this book.

The Scattered Ashes tabulature book includes Ihsahn's official guitar transcriptions of 13 classic Emperor tracks. The tracklisting is as follows:

1. Curse All You Men!

2. The Tongue of Fire

3. The Majesty Of The Nightsky

4. Cosmic Keys To My Creations And Times

5. Wrath Of The Tyrant

6. The Loss And Curse Of Reverence

7. An Elegy Of Icaros

8. I Am The Black Wizards

9. Thus Spake The Nightspirit

10. Ye Entrancemperium

11. In The Wordless Chamber

12. With Strength I Burn

13. Inno A Satana

Also included is the first disc from the Scattered Ashes: Decade of Emperial Wrath CD, so that you can play along to the recorded versions of each track.

If you're at all familiar with Emperor, you know that the riffing on these songs is amazing. All but the most experienced guitarists are probably going to struggle to play many of the riffs in here, but obviously attempting to play this stuff and practicing it is going to make you a much better guitarist. More experienced guitarists will be able to appreciate the opportunity to break down Emperor's compositional techniques and study the band's use of melody and counter-melody, unusual harmonies, and song arrangement.

The bottom line is that this book offers an unparalleled glimpse into the music of one of metal's most creative and talented bands, and any aspiring metal guitarist should have it in their collection.

I will first by beginning with admittance I never heard of Emperor until I listened to Cradle of Filth and Dimmu, and it was my understanding if you listen to this genre then knowing of Emperor was mandatory. I began with the only CD I could find at the time, and that was IX Equilibrium. I quickly gathered up the other cds, and then came the release of Prometheus, thus the disbanding of Emperor, meaning I'd never get the chance to see them live... Quite a shame...

However, since it was a celebrated event that a band with the talent Emperor does, calling it quits before you ruin your good name releasing crap ( *cough* METALLICA AND SLAYER *cough*) as time moves on... They pump out this release, a compilation of their greatest hits pretty much, spanning their entire career. You get to see how they began, and matured in sound and showmanship with each release, including goodies that you wouldn't have gotten unless Emperor was a part of your local scene in Norway.

Highly reccomended, I'm listening to it right now actually ;)

The title says it all: "Decade of Emperial Wrath" so if you don't like this Cd, either you don't like Emperor, or you shouldn't listen to this in the first place,there is plenty of Black Eyed Peas on the radio today. This CD haa such classic such as Curse you all men! (my favorite), sworn (remix) i don't know what happened here, above all else, this is a great emperor Cd, that any Emperor fan should get, it's melodic, it's black metal, and it's brutal. This IS metal. I recommend Slayer Divine Intervention, or Deicide Legion. Other than that, to all Emperor fans i recommend Enslaved Blodhemn. Hail Emperor!

My 3 star ranking of this release does not refer to the music itself, which I love, but to the superfluous and incomplete quality of this compilation.

First about the incomplete sampling of songs. Some of their best songs are not here. "Into the infinity of thoughts", "depraved" etc. The fact is that all of Emperor's albums had such a thoroughly high quality that selecting songs from each of them will inevetably leave behind as much quality as it will present.

About the lack of necessity for this compilation. Emperor released only 4 albums, this is a double disc compilation, that should tell the most of it. As a fan you'd much rather like to own their albums. Why? In my opinion the sampling of songs on this compilation makes for a stylishly incoherent listen without the red line of an album. All of their albums were coherent works musically and conceptually. That feeling of coherence and purpose is lacking in this compilation.

True, this compilation does include some covers of other bands that were never included on any of their albums. I guess that makes this a worthwhile buy for die hard fans who want a complete Emperor discography.

Amazing DVD. Great selection of songs. Bonus features are great, too, although cuts many interviews off short.

The camera does move/switch a bit too much to actually get a good look at any one particular thing going on... and the audio mix early on is a little rough... but still great.

One beef: the keyboardist's vocals need to be turned down a few notches... they bury Ihsahn.

Get it. Love it.