I think you know this, Emperor frontman Ihsahn told a German audience in 2006 with a look of stoic pride on his face. After a burst of feedback, he launched into the rigid, darkly symphonic riffs of I Am the Black Wizards, one of the standouts on the Norwegian black-metal bands 1994 full-length, In the Nightside Eclipse, a record that turns 25 today. The concert, at the Wacken Open Air festival, was one of the groups biggest-ever sets, and it came on the heels of their 2005 reunion, four years after theyd split up over musical differences. Although they were no longer wearing black metals signature corpsepaint, Ihsahn donned spiky shoulder pads for the occasion.
Ihsahn had written his part of the song when he was 16, complementing guitarist Samoths riffs, and they recorded it when the frontman was 17. The bands bassist at the time, Mortiis (who went on to become a prosthetics-wearing darkwave artist), penned the tracks lyrics in the summer of 1992, including genre-defining lines like, How many wizards that serve me with evil, I know not/My empire has no limits. The song first appeared on the groups four-song Emperor EP, but they went on to refine it and re-record it with new bassist Tchort for In the Nightside Eclipse.
Flashback: Steve Perry Makes a Shocking Return to the Stage in 2014Flashback: Jackson Browne Performs a Heart-Wrenching 'Late for the Sky' in 197620 Insanely Great Eminem Tracks Only Hardcore Fans KnowKiss' Top 10 Albums Ranked
When we did In the Nightside Eclipse, the material was well rehearsed and tight as hell, but at the same time we had a very relaxed feeling to it all, drummer Faust said in the book Louder Than Hell. We had no idea of the importance of what we were about to record. Ihsahn was 17 years old at the time and couldnt get into the bars so he just stayed in the studio working. I used to say that all the great vocal work on the album was thanks to his being underage because Ihsahn had so much time to work on it.
The song, and In the Nightside Eclipse as a whole, represented a new benchmark for black metal. Although there were records by Norwegian black metal artists Darkthrone and Burzum circulating, Mayhem hadnt yet released their first full-length, De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas, and the controversy surrounding the scene including the murder of Mayhems guitarist Euronymous at the hands of Burzums outspokenly fascistic frontman Varg Vikernes, and several church burnings sparked interest in the seemingly dangerous nascent genre. Emperors Nightside, which they dedicated to Euronymous, featured a level of sophistication the other bands hadnt yet reached and it became one of the scenes touchstones.
Emperor too faced their share of strife when Samoth was arrested for church arson, Tchort was arrested for assault and drummer Faust admitted to murdering a gay man in 1992, prompting him to leave the band in 1994; he rejoined for a brief time in the mid-Nineties. But other than espousing the philosophies of Satanism, Ihsahn stayed outside the fray of the Norwegian black-metal scene and, with Samoths return and the addition of new drummer Trym (featured in the video above), they pressed forward with 1997s Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk (one of Rolling Stones Greatest Metal Albums) up through 2001s Prometheus: The Discipline of Fire & Demise. Through it all, I Am the Black Wizards remained a consistent crowd favorite.
In Poland, we played I Am The Black Wizards, its one of the songs that we always play and you see grown men cry because they get very emotional, Ihsahn said last year, via Blabbermouth. Its in a similar way that some of my favorite music I grew up listening to or going to an Iron Maiden show and hearing some of my favorites from back in the day, it has a huge emotional impact on me.