25 Years Later, Emperor’s IX Equilibrium Remains an Essential Piece of the Greater Puzzle
I’m on the record stating multiple times that, although I have turned around on it greatly over the past decade or so, I’m still not exactly the most rabid black metal fan in the world. Looking back, I’m pretty sure a lot of my initial reticence had to do with misconceptions about a lack of ingenuity within the genre. To my inexperienced eyes and ears, death metal was constantly trying to outdo itself and pushing boundaries, whereas black metal always seemed to be stuck in the past and unbearably high on itself.
But even when I would staunchly, proudly, and foolishly proclaim “Nah man, that’s not my thing,” I couldn’t help but appreciate Emperor. They were the one exception to the rule — the one band that could make me uncross my arms and admit, “Okay, yeah, this is awesome.” They’ve always been a step above their peers, taking a much more polished and cinematic approach to the genre that feels genuinely artistic in nature as opposed to a bunch of low fidelity, poorly mixed shrieking. They were one of the first black metal bands I ever heard who were able to effectively capture that sense of mysticism that so many other bands had the imagery for but weren’t able to translate into sonic form.
Most people would tout the band’s earlier works as their best, and I must concede that Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk is my personal favorite as well, but Emperor’s story is a tale of slow and constant refinement, and there is no more striking example of the band’s subtle yet continuous evolution than their third album IX Equilibrium. It represents one of their biggest leaps forward in terms of implementing a ton of melody and atmosphere without sacrificing any of their previous ferocity. In fact, I would even be so bold as to say that this is my second favorite album in their catalog.
It’s practically impossible to not start banging your head as soon as the iconic opening track “Curse You All Men!” kicks in the door with a Halford-esque falsetto and immediately launches into a furious thrashing riff complimented by a generous dollop of synth ambience. Right away you can tell that the band mean business, and despite a handful of hitherto unexpected shifts in tempo and pacing, that momentum is carried beautifully all the way through to the end as “Of Blindness and Subsequent Seers” fades out and gives way to an extremely tasteful classical acoustic guitar arrangement. It was at this point in their career that Ihsahn’s progressive side was really starting to peek out, but thankfully that didn’t stop them from whipping up a frenzy all the same.
There’s something about the overall personality of this album that always makes me think of those old sword and sorcery point-and-click adventures from long before it was actually cool to play Dungeons & Dragons. Being the gigantic unapologetic nerd that I am, it tickles my brain in just the right way. There’s just something about those synth layers that conjures images of a huge castle with gothic architecture on a hilltop with crappy 8-bit lightning effects behind it, and it never fails to make me smile.
This is undoubtedly why I always enjoyed Emperor’s music even before I gained an appreciation for black metal as a whole; their more theatrical elements have always been more fleshed out and impressive than a lot of their vehemently Satanic contemporaries, and Equilibrium is exceedingly heavy-handed with those elements. It’s proof that just because something is melodic and forward-thinking doesn’t mean it can’t also be terrifying, you just need to find the sweet spot and strike a delicate balance between the two.
In all likelihood, it’s probably going to be a very long time before we see another band the likes of Emperor, if at all. Some people just happen to come together at the right time and place who have the balls to be just a little bit different, and incredible things happen once those stars align. But that’s alright, because even if lightning doesn’t strike twice, at least we’re left with a truly memorable discography and some incredible memories still to be made as the band continue to make the occasional appearance, most recently announcing a performance on the next edition of the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise. That’s going to be insane.
Black metal is in a very healthy state in this day and age, with much of its original stigma and controversy being mercifully left in the past or in dark, musty, unkempt basements where they belong, and we have bona fide trailblazers like Emperor to thank for that. Were it not for their willingness to experiment and take the calculated risk of releasing an album like IX Equilibrium, then we would find ourselves in a wholly different landscape than we do now, and I for one am grateful that this is not the case.
