Who We Are: Emperor, Symphonic Black Metal from Notodden
We're Emperor, a symphonic black metal band from Notodden, Norway. Here's where we come from, who we are today and how the story behind this store began.
Where did Emperor start?
Emperor was formed in 1991 in Notodden by Ihsahn and Samoth. In those first days Samoth played drums and Ihsahn handled guitar and vocals; from 1992 Samoth moved to guitar. Mortiis played bass in our very first line-up, from 1991 to 1992.
What do we sound like?
Our music is symphonic black metal, the cold and fast Norwegian black metal sound with keyboards and big arrangements built on top. Over the years it has also been called progressive metal, and you can hear that side grow from album to album.
Who is in Emperor today?
Three of us form the core of the band:
- Ihsahn: vocals, guitars and keyboards
- Samoth: guitars
- Trym Torson: drums, with us since 1996
On stage we're joined by Tony "Secthdamon" Ingebrigtsen and Ole Vistnes on bass and Jørgen Munkeby on keyboards, with us since 2018. Over the years Faust, Tchort and Alver have also played in Emperor.
What happened between then and now?
We were active from 1991 until we split in 2001, after four studio albums. In 2005 we came back for a reunion show in Oslo on 30 September, played again from 2005 to 2007 and from 2013 to 2014, and we've been active again since 2016.
What's in the store?
Every design here comes from our world: the Emperor logo, the Wrath of the Tyrant lettering and the landscape of In the Nightside Eclipse, on tees, long sleeves, crewnecks and hoodies, with kids' and youth sizes too.
Start here: pick the design that takes you back to the record you heard first.