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 Emperor за время своего существования не выпустили двух одинаковых работ, каждый раз продвигаясь по курсу своего развития все дальше. Поэтому неудивительно, что их творчество на разных этапах вызывает разную реакцию. Например, первая известная запись группы, пока находящейся в процессе поиска своего звучания, вышла, на мой вкус, гораздо интереснее дебюта. Странно, что в самом начале своего пути норвежцы были раскованней в средствах: звук еще не «затерт» синтезатором, голос Ихсана отличается разнообразием, а гитара прописана четче. Кажется, желание сделать материал более аккуратным и ровным к выходу полноценного альбома, не пошло команде на пользу. Главная черта музыки старого состава Emperor – резкость: работа получилась, хотя сырой и неплотной, но более экспрессивной. Пусть в весовой категории имперский звук и уступает тяжести прочих норвежских команд, зато ни одна из них не добивалась такой истеричной злости в музыке. Одержимость – тот эпитет, который подходит небыстрой демке Emperor даже больше, чем знаменитому своей скоростью «Pure Holocaust». И если последний вызывает ассоциации с блэк-метальной бурей, то «Wrath of the Tyrant» наводит на мысль о нечистой силе, похозяйничавшей на репетиционной базе, да и в головах участников. Ихсан непохож на себя времен «In the Nightside Eclipse»: дребезжащее, шероховатое звуковое полотно перекрывается заливистым визгом, к которому добавлено небольшое эхо. Иногда его голос опускается до шепота, переходит в утробное клокотанье или дэтовое порыкивание. Подобная манера приятно напоминает стиль Аттилы (Tormentor, Mayhem), и импонирует мне больше стандартного скриминга.
Как итог, материал уместнее сравнить скорее с некоторыми образцами экстра-брутального европейского треша, вплотную подошедшего к границе своего стиля, чем с прочими группами из Бергена и окрестностей. Однообразие приемов и типично невысокое качество, как исполнения, так и записи, могут утомить к концу пленки, длительность которой более подходит для полноценного альбома. Тем не менее, «Wrath of the Tyrant» для меня является самым ярким норвежским творением 1992 года. А в качестве демонстрации возможностей – более чем достаточная заявка о себе! |
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Wait till my spirits come forth.
Violate all his chosen ones.
Drink the fires of death.
Carrying the deaths of his fallen warriors
deep inside of him, in his eyes.
Walk upon this Earth tonight,
carrying the staff of cold souls.
Appear the sign of evil will.
They appear, Death and Destruction,
to a time (when) the angel cries.
Open your eyes again now, he is here.
He is the master of fear.
He is the wind, He is the storm.
He is the woods, He is the roots.
Nobody will escape the wrath of the Tyrant.
Forever the Beast shall wander the Earth.
3. Night Of The Graveless Souls
[Originally released in 1992 on the demo album "Wrath of the Tyrant".]
[Re-recorded.]
[3:10]
When night comes creeping in,
dark restless shades arise.
Graveless souls are gathering.
Seem to ignite the flame.
Creeping shadows roam the night,
as a merciless rain is closing upon.
Demons coming to sever the Sun.
Fearsome beasts come to life.
Darkness reigns in the Cosmos.
Forces of the Devil's lair.
Innocent or brave,
they appear to rape your world.
Children of the evil and demonic
curse his love again.
Graveless souls awake,
seem to ignite the flame.
When night comes creeping in,
dark restless shades arise.
Prepare to crawl and run.
The Black is here tonight.
4. Cosmic Keys To My Creations And Times
[6:22]
The heavens are lit by the stars
where years of secrets of universal forces lay hid.
They shine so bright, but yet
they have seen more evil than time itself.
Reflected in the deepless lakes
(they are drowning in black elements).
They are the planetary keys to unlimited wisdom
and power for the Emperor to obtain.
(They) being the gods of the wolves
whom upon they bark at night,
requesting their next victim in thirst of blood.
I enjoy those moments I may haunt with these beasts of the night.
What kinds of beings are existing at the deeps of my lakes?
They surely must be of an evil race,
for no friendly thing can live
in such depressive waters.
(Here is also a planet similar to the Moon, but its phases is only one
and it is in its most powerful for all and ever...
There passes no light without the barking of the wolves.)
All these landscapes are timeless,
and this is all just a part of cosmos,
(but) all is mine and past and future is yet to discover...
Much have been discovered, but tomorrow
I will realise I existed before myself.
I will be reborn
before I die.
I will realise planets ages old,
created by a ruler with a crown of dragon claws,
arrived with a stargate...
a king among the wolves in the night...
An observer of the stars.
I will realise planets ages old,
created by a ruler with a crown of dragon claws,
arrived with a stargate...
a king among the wolves in the night...
An observer of the stars.
An observer of the stars.
An observer of the stars.
5. Introduction
[1:09]
[Instrumental.]
6. The Ancient Queen
[3:15]
The Ancient Queen.
Deadly hate, deadly love.
Dark under the shadow.
Death has been resisted.
The Ancient Queen,
ruler of the domain.
Keeper of the fury,
the Queen dwells in shadow.
Dark rivers run though me.
Darkness follows everwhere.
Kingdoms falling again and again.
Crawl to thee over again.
The Ancient Queen, the darkest woman.
Stepping through her shadow.
She who sees the soul.
Black is her blood.
Keeper of the fury.
Stepping through her shadow.
Do you see her soul?
Black is her blood.
Keeper of the fury.
Dark under the shadow.
Thy destiny lies with her.
The Ancient Queen,
ruler of the domain.
Keeper of the fury.
In shadow... shadow.
7. My Empire's Doom
[4:30]
Once our lord has come again,
all black hearts will celebrate
the darksome fiend
in the kingdom of sorrow.
Nocturnal fiends,
the beings of the night and shadows
calling forth the pure spirit
of the night.
Our reign may come secretly.
Your Lord's castle is gone.
His glory is no more,
and nothing can stop the purifying.
They remember how you conjured
all those years of sorrow.
Blasting winds of darkness conquer.
Dark lords and their minions coming through.
Hate and sin to remain.
Empty hearts fearing thy name.
Darkness hammers through on the priests.
Darkness hammers forward on the cross.
Servants of God, we will desecrate your coward race
with darkness.
Darkness hammers through on the priests.
Darkness hammers forward on the cross.
Servants of God, we will desecrate your coward race
with darkness.
Once our lord has come again,
all black hearts will celebrate
the darksome fiend
in the kingdom of sorrow.
When he returns his spirits must choose purity.
When he conquers kingdoms of death
our dead shall all reign again.
Our reign may come secretly.
Your Lord's castle is gone.
His glory is no more,
and nothing can stop the purifying.
They remember how you conjured
all those years of sorrow.
Awakened from the shadows to create.
Riding with me and with all his chosen.
Our lord to be has come again.
Riding from the past.
Little you know your life fades.
8. Forgotten Centuries
[2:54]
9. Night Of The Graveless Souls
[2:54]
When night comes creeping in,
dark restless shades arise.
Graveless souls are gathering.
Seem to ignite the flame.
Creeping shadows roam the night,
as a merciless rain is closing upon.
Demons coming to sever the Sun.
Empty eyes come to life.
Darkness reigns in the Cosmos.
Forces of the Devil's lair.
Innocent or brave,
they appear to rape your world.
Children of the evil and demonic
curse his love again.
Graveless souls awake,
seem to ignite the flame.
When night comes creeping in,
dark restless shades arise.
Prepare to crawl and run.
The Black is here tonight.
10. Moon Over Kara-Shehr
[4:23]
[This lyric was deciphered from the version
of the song found on the "Scattered Ashes" album.]
Our time is upon us.
Master! Appear!
Over the nocturnal sky
from the mountains of black we ride.
Fly!
All thy servants fly
though the serpent's darkened sky.
Hears the opponent cry,
ravaged by his terror.
Master! We ride with the storm
in his name, the sire, wolves' king.
Enter the power coursing
through veins of the night.
Who gathers winds, summons thunder,
summons rain, summons might?
Power ripples through me.
Armageddon's thunder will bring others to my side.
The throne is mine.
A blackened storm of evil.
Evil.
Evil.
Evil.
Master! We ride with the storm to take
revenge in the sky upon the one
who cast thee from his side.
11. Witches' Sabbath
[5:40]
[This lyric was deciphered from the version
of the song found on the "Scattered Ashes" album.]
Shifting shadows guide my way in the autumn.
From this fell alliance eternal night shall arise.
Hear the scream of the wolves calling again.
Legions are wreaking destruction upon the fortress.
They must beware his rage.
Once again he is risen.
Towns are burning, the gods arise.
Welcome the nocturnal nightmare
And suffer again.
And suffer again.
He shall suffer. Dying breed of stalwart men.
We will never deny what you can see.
In malice.
They will understand my pain.
Shifting shadows guide my way in the autumn.
From this fell alliance eternal night shall arise.
Hear the scream of the wolves calling again.
Legions are wreaking destruction upon the fortress.
12. Lord Of The Storms
[2:08]
Earthquakes are breaking the silence,
a vision of hate.
A wicked, foul spell of evil.
Dark winds command the throne.
Cleansed by the evil hand,
a crusade of the burning land.
A servant in the shape of a snake
blackens the bodies red.
Then it appears, the storming wind,
a challenging scar burns through the light.
A cloud of darkness prepared for me
to complete the circle of death.
The serpent gains mastery of the wind
through the storms and through the streaming snow.
Sorrow blackens the Earth when the Moon fades.
Dark winds command the throne.
Earthquakes are breaking the silence,
a vision of hate.
A wicked, foul spell of evil.
Dark winds command the throne.
Cleansed by the evil hand,
a crusade of the burning land.
An embrace from Death.
13. Wrath Of The Tyrant
[3:56]
The wolves bark with wind in summertime.
As the moon passes the shadows. It was a grim tale.
The wolves pry the limbs from the conquered ones.
Carnage consumes the emptiness.
Wait till my spirits come forth.
Violate all his chosen ones.
Drink the fires of death.
Carrying the deaths of his fallen warriors
deep inside of him, in his eyes.
Walk upon this Earth tonight,
carrying the staff of cold souls.
Appear the sign of evil will.
They appear, Death and Destruction,
to a time (when) the angel cries.
Open your eyes again now, he is here.
He is the master of fear.
He is the wind, He is the storm.
He is the woods, He is the roots.
Nobody will escape the wrath of the Tyrant.
Forever the Beast shall wander the Earth.