Although it lasts for (exactly) 44 minutes, this album seems to be over quite quickly. Perhaps this is because there are only 8 tracks, and just 6 of them are really 'proper' songs. Nevertheless, there's quite a lot for the listener to take in here, especially when playing it for the first couple of times. The synth is less overtly blatant than on their debut album "In The Nightside Eclipse", and the vocals are remarkably less high-pitched than before - more rasped. One thing which is instantly evident is the use - some might say overuse - of clean singing. This harmonic singing isn't the same as on "Inno A Satana", however - it owes more to 80's metal than the usual Viking/Monk-style melodic chanting, although I suppose a vague comparison to Garm's notorious style can be made at times. It might take a while to get your ears used to infiltrating the mix and detecting the intricate parts hidden under the wall of noise - I found that listening to it on headphones helped. Here's a brief look at each track...
Basically this is an intro, consisting of whispered and spoken vocals, guitar (the beginning sounds quite un-like what you'd expect), spooky sound effects etc. which are later replaced by a weird synth fanfare and some distant clean singing. To be honest, I usually skip past this one. (An interesting thing to note is that this song contains the line "may the forest whisper my name." I wonder if this is supposed to be a parody, insult, or 'hail' to Cradle Of Filth - surely not a coincidence?)
Although Ihsahn and Samoth wrote all these songs, the opening theme of this particular one was originally composed by deceased Black Metal king Euronymous. This is one of my favourites on the album - like most of these songs it's definitly not instant, but there are some catchy refrains and incredibly precise drumming. More of the harmonic clean singing in the latter half of the song, which is quite effective.
The first song on this album which, to me, has hints of the 'In The Nightside Eclipse' vibe. Although it's a respectable 4 and a half minutes long, by Emperor's standards this is quite short for a song, and it does seem a bit brief. This one starts fast, then has a slow ending with more of Ihsahn's harmonic singing. This might be the point when some listeners start to think "he's doing that a bit too often for my liking..."
Chaotic indeed - at least to begin with. After a minute or so of all- heads-down-blasting there's a quick synth break of an off-the-beat, almost Reggae nature, which continues while the drums, guitar and vocals come in at a slower pace than before. Perhaps predictably there's some more clean singing, but only for a few bars.
This might be a very slightly different mix than the version on the CD single (one definite difference is the ending, which here has more feedback and stuff) - but if there are any other differences, such as more synth or anything, it's not noticeable. This is another of my favourite tracks, although I was obviously already familiar with it.
Another favourite of mine, although like the previous track there's no clean singing in this one. There are some classic Emperor touches and trademarks in this song, like spaced ambient synth played over rapid clinking cymbals. Like most of these songs, it's not fast all the way through - there's a quite catchy midtempo section which blends into the song well, with drumming very reminiscent of 'Raudlt Og Svart' (or whatever it was called) by Arcturus.
This is the 'Inno A Satana' for 'Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk.' It doesn't sound anything like it, but it's 'the' track, the one which everyone will talk about and many will call the highlight of the album. It has, by far, more clean harmonic singing than any of the previous songs - some people will probably say it's contributing to the commercialisation of Black Metal and such like, but I personally like this song despite the reservations I had about it on my first two or so listens.
No, not a cover of the Status Quo song, :) but a 2 minute instrumental outro which fades in after 'With Strength I Burn' fades out. This isn't a synth instrumental, however, but an almost laid back drum and guitar piece.
Anyone expecting another 'In The Nightside Eclipse' might be disappointed at first, since it's quite different. Whilst this isn't exactly the monumental landmark and groundbreaking album of Metal history which some have hyped it up to be, it's nevertheless an excellent Black Metal album. But who'd expect anything less than that?
Back to Index