Year: 1997
Total Time: 43:58
Label: Candlelight Records

Be sure that all the bank robberies in our days are done by blackmetallers! How could this not be the case?? Just after you recover from ULVER, ENSLAVED, IMMORTAL, DODHEIMSGARD etc. here come the “emperors”.

Listening to “Reverence” a short time ago, you could see that they deserve more than they are receiving. “Anthems” doesn’t make you a liar, indeed. EMPEROR, as always, cover the excellent lyrics of Mister Vegard Sverre (Ihsahn his artistic) with their well-known black metal music suit that made them famous all over Europe.

This time the “tailor assistant” Mr. Pytten did much work in order to improve the quality of this “suit”, so that other metal audiences could wear it too.

Along with the incredibly tough production, what makes the Norwegians stronger is the increase of the great lyrical vocs (you’ll get a good taste of them in the epic “With Strength I Burn”), the improvement of the keyboards (will leave you speechless with how realistic they sound) and the barbaric and epic drums spread all around (Trym Torsson you see …).

Nonetheless, EMPEROR remain extreme, maybe more than ever. In times that all trends demand sad atmosphere and melancholy, they possess melancholy from which strength comes out (and reverse). An atmosphere that is nothing more than the mask of power and epic feeling with which EMPEROR have filled “Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk”.

Rating: 8/10
Editor: Tolis Giovanitis
Translation/Rendering in English: Tasos Varelas
Related Link: EMPEROR – Official Page

P.S. The initial; publication of this review was in the Greek METAL HAMMER Magazine – issue 150, July 1997.