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HISTORICAL FACTS: Emperor org - The Untold Story

Debate: who are the greatest black metal band of all time?

From Mayhem to Emperor, black metal is full of fearless innovators, and we want you to tell us which band reign supreme

Metal Hammer

I took my mum to one of Europe’s heaviest metal festivals, and her reviews of the bands are glorious

My mum joined me at Bloodstock Open Air to watch Gojira, Machine Head, Emperor and many more – this is what she thought of their shows

Metal Hammer

Bloodstock review – this is the UK’s best fest for true heavy metal madness

Trivium bring the bells and whistles, Gojira are supercharged and Machine Head get 1,011 crowdsurfers as they etch themselves on extreme metal’s Mount Rushmore

The Guardian - UK

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“We played to four people and one of them was a dog”: Cradle Of Filth’s Dani Filth remembers legendary 90s tour with Emperor

Cradle’s 1993 shows with Emperor have entered black metal folklore – but very few people actually showed up to see them

Metal Hammer

“The time was right. Metal had died a horrible death, grunge had killed the mainstream off, so it felt like a revolution”: The unholy story of Cacophonous Records, the underground 90s label that changed black metal

Cacophonous Records launched Cradle Of Filth and Dimmu Borgir on an unsuspecting world

Metal Hammer

“Explicitly Satanic and utterly primal, their ritualistic assault influenced many later groups”: These 4 obscure black metal bands deserve to be as big as Emperor and Dimmu Borgir

From Brazilian trailblazers to a shadowy Norwegian one-man outfit, these are the cult bands every black metal fan should know

Metal Hammer

“He mentioned how much he admired Pol Pot and Nicolae Ceaușescu for the way they could control the populace”: Cradle Of Filth’s Dani Filth was pen-pals with Norwegian black metal ringleader Euronymous

Cradle Of Filth’s Dani Filth was pen-pals with Norwegian black metal ringleader Euronymous

Metal Hammer

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"You might hate us, but at least you've heard of us." How Cradle Of Filth became Britain's most iconic black metal band

Controversial t-shirts, murder confessions, being held at gunpoint at the Vatican - Cradle Of FIlth have plenty of stories from over 30 years on the frontlines of extreme metal

Metal Hammer

The 10 best black metal albums of 2024

You may as well rename Ihsahn, Zeal & Ardor and Witch Club Satan “Spinal Tap”, because there was none more black in 2024

Metal Hammer

“He taught me how to play songs by Dream Theater, Iron Maiden and King Diamond… though I remember giving up on some of the John Petrucci solos!” Tor Oddmund Suhrke on guitar lessons with Ihsahn and casting musical illusions with Leprous

Melodies of Atonement finds Leprous taking the complex and making it sound simple – and if that confuses prog purists then so be it, says Suhrke. There is no reversing the evolutionary wheel…

Guitar World

“Black metal is the only form of music since punk rock that’s not money motivated”: How members of Emperor and Amen smashed together black metal and hardcore in forgotten supergroup Scum

The story of early 2000s underground supergroup Scum, who burnt brightly for one album then vanished

Metal Hammer

“Hold onto your socks, it’s gonna be brutal!” Trivium, Machine Head and Gojira to headline stacked Bloodstock 2025 lineup

Emperor, Lacuna Coil, Creeper and more have also been announced for the Derbyshire weekender in August 2025

Metal Hammer

“They’re not interested in pleasing their label or fans – just themselves. That’s what I try to do too”: Ihsahn and his wife want you to listen to Radiohead

When people were just beginning to see that the Emperor man was a progressive musician, he’d long been all over Thom Yorke’s artistic bravery

Metal Hammer

“My role in the black metal scene is probably exaggerated, because I was a visible frontman… In many ways I was just the nerd making music”: Ihsahn has never stopped progressing, and can’t understand why others did

The avant-garde maestro explains why his new, self-titled album is his most definitive, complex and atmospheric release yet

Metal Hammer

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Metal Hammer

"The major metal magazines slaughtered Emperor's early albums." How black metal icon Ihsahn ditched corpsepaint and church burnings to become a prog master

Growing up, it was expected that Vegard Sverre Tveitan would take over the family farm. But when he rebranded himself as Ihsahn he became a pioneer of black metal, before ditching it all for prog

Guitar World

“My headless six-string is the color of Hannibal Lecter’s couch… and I have an Oxblood Red model inspired by his office!” How Ihsahn combined horror scores, blastbeats and space-age guitars for a black metal album to eclipse ’em all

As the Emperor icon returns with the most ambitious album of his career, he dropped by to discuss his fierce picking speed, the influence of film scores, and why you don't need as much distortion as you think

Metal Hammer

"Since black metal, what’s the next dangerous thing?": Ihsahn reflects on black metal's place in rock'n'roll history

Former Emperor frontman Ihsahn discusses how black metal maintains a rock tradition and why social media is hurting how we interact with some musicians

Metal Hammer

Every Emperor album ranked from worst to best

They’re the spotless masters of symphonic black metal, but which of Emperor’s four records reigns supreme?

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Metal Hammer

Emperor’s Ihsahn reflects on black metal church-burnings: “We were all very consumed with the whole thing. The attention it got.”

in the new issue of Metal Hammer, Emperor’s Ihsahn looks back upon the controversial church-burnings which brought notoriety to the Norwegian extreme metal scene in the 90s

Metal Hammer

"A friend said this sounds like the Emperor album that was never recorded": Ihsahn is returning to his symphonic black metal roots on his new self-titled album

30 years since he helped revolutionise black metal with Emperor, Ihsahn is still pushing boundaries with his eighth solo album

Metal Hammer

"We got stones thrown at us". Sahil ‘Demonstealer’ Makhija helped India finally embrace heavy metal - but the scene is facing more challenges than ever

The Godfather Of Indian Metal, Sahil ‘Demonstealer’ Makhija has overcome many obstacles to get the music he loves appreciated in his homeland. Sadly, plenty more remain

Louder

Leprous and Coal: "We're big fans of Emperor!"

How times change! Back in 2013 Leprous released their third album Coal. And this was their very first piece in Prog Magazine!

Metal Hammer

A beginner's guide to black metal in five essential albums

Everyone knows metal’s evilest genre for the arson and murder, but the music’s been transgressing boundaries for four decades

Metal Hammer

Ihsahn and the story of Àmr

Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Ihsahn tells the story of his 2018 solo album Àmr, his latest to date

Metal Hammer

Ihsahn "would be open" to new Emperor album

After decades of ruling out a new Emperor album, frontman Ihsahn says he is now open to the idea

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