Wrath of the Tyrant

"Wrath of the Tyrant" was the demo released in 1992 by the seminal black metal band Emperor. Because of the poor production, many have found this release offputting and/or frightening, although it is not unlike the low production quality demos of many other Black metal groups of the time. This was the only time Emperor ever utilised downtuned-guitars: the album was recorded in D#, which was determined by Ygg's and Samot's experience with death metal. "My Empire's Doom" eventually metamorphosed into "Beyond the Great Vast Forest" on the band's debut album, "In the Nightside Eclipse".

In 1998, the demo was remastered with four tracks from the 1993 "Hordanes Land" split with Enslaved that preceded the original tracks. The sound still retained a "raw" quality, perhaps in order to maintain the "grim" atmosphere expected by many in black metal music. Two versions of this re-release exist; the Candlelight version has the coverof the "Emperor" demo and features video footage of live performances from theband, while the Century Black version has the "Wrath of the Tyrant" cover (below),but lacks the video footage of the Candlelight edition.

Curiously, although Mortiis plays bass on "Wrath of the Tyrant", the band's official website has a picture of a band member (the same picture on the album) with the filename "tchort_wrathcover", implying that Tchort, who didn't join until In The Nightside Eclipse was recorded, is the person who appears on the cover. [http://www.emperorhorde.com/gfx/gallery/prev_members/tchort_wrathcover.jpg]

Track listing

"Wrath of the Tyrant"

#"Introduction" – 2:20
#"Ancient Queen" – 3:17
#"My Empire's Doom" – 4:34
#"Forgotten Centuries" – 2:51
#"Night of the Graveless Souls" – 2:56
#"Moon over Kara-Shehr" – 4:25
#"Witches Sabbath" – 5:41
#"Lord of the Storms" – 2:10
#"Wrath of the Tyrant" – 3:58

"All music composed by Samoth & Ihsahn. Lyrics by Mortiis"

; 1998 Edition "Emperor" EP Tracks 1-4 / "Wrath of the Tyrant" demo
#"I am the Black Wizards"
#"Wrath of the Tyrant"
#"Night of the Graveless Souls"
#"Cosmic Keys to my Creations & Times"
#"Introduction" – 2:20
#"Ancient Queen" – 3:17
#"My Empire's Doom" – 4:34
#"Forgotten Centuries" – 2:51
#"Night of the Graveless Souls" – 2:56
#"Moon over Kara-Shehr" – 4:25
#"Witches Sabbath" – 5:41
#"Lord of the Storms" – 2:10
#"Wrath of the Tyrant" – 3:58

"All music composed by Samoth & Ihsahn. Lyrics by Mortiis"

Credits

*Ygg – guitars and vocals
*Samot – drums, recording vocals on "Witches Sabbath".
*Mortiis - Bass

Footnotes