Emperor Announce US Summer Tour: Norwegian Black Metal Band’s First Stateside Trek in Over 15 Years

Norwegian black metal legends Emperor have announced their first stateside tour in over 15 years with the “Anthems to Welken at Dusk” U.S. summer shows. The limited five-show run will hit select major markets across the United States beginning in June and will run through July. Chicago, Brooklyn, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Anaheim are the five lucky cities to be able to witness Emperor’s black metal rampage return to the United States!

Norwegian black metal has long been known for its anti-Christian sentiment and furious, violent sound. But one group in particular, Emperor, found a way to express these feelings in innovating and creative ways. Emperor’s music was recognized as groundbreaking and influential in the metal genre due to their unique approach to this style of expression.

The group was originally formed in 1991 by Ihsahn, Samoth, and Mortiis. Their savage 1994 debut album, ‘In the Nightside Eclipse’, is widely considered to be a landmark release that set the tone for the future of black metal and secured their place as a mainstay within the unholy genre. They were able to combine harsh vocals with complex guitar riffs and keyboards that created a sound unlike anything else at the time. Emperor’s lyrics often focused on dark themes such as death, destruction, and darkness, which made them quite popular with fans of extreme metal music.

Emperor are truly mad thrilled to bring their black metal rampage to the U.S. once again!

Select Emperor U.S. Tour Dates

6/23 Chicago, IL Aragon Ballroom
6/25 Brooklyn, NY Kings Theatre
6/28 Dallas, TX South Side Ballroom
6/30 Los Angeles, CA YouTube Theater
7/1 Anaheim, CA House Of Blues

Tickets go on sale February 17 at Viva Psycho’s website.

Emperor’s second album, ‘Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk’, was recorded at the famous Grieg Hall throughout the fall of 1996 by famed black metal producer Eirik “Pytten” Hundvin. ‘Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk’, is an exploration into themes of darkness and despair, and features some of Emperor’s most iconic tracks. The album, which was released in 1997 (Candlelight Records), is widely considered to be a defining moment in the early Norwegian black metal scene. As it flawlessly captures the raw energy and emotion that characterized the genre at that time, and has since become a classic within the genre.

The recording process for ‘Anthems ‘To The Welkin At Dusk’ was incredibly challenging for Emperor due to both the technical difficulties with recording in such a large venue as well as the complex nature of their sound.

Ihsahn Expressing His Thoughts On Emperor’s Career:

“As you know, EMPEROR developed, at some point, I ended up making more and more of the music and eventually, I did all the music,” frontman Ihsahn stated to Loud TV. “We’d rather stop at the level where we were all creatively involved, rather than doing it for keeping the logo or for any of those reasons. At this point, there’s so much nostalgia attached to what we do, and we’ve been in the privileged position that people have developed similar relationships to these old songs that we did, as we are fans, to other bands. It’s a very humbling position to be in. If you turned it around, what kind of EMPEROR could we possibly do? What kind of EMPEROR could we possibly do? We should make something that sounds like old EMPEROR? Or should we do something like EMPEROR would sound today? If it was up to me, EMPEROR would sound like my solo records because that’s how I write metal. It’s kind of a lose-lose thing. The whole point of black metal, people want something that is real and has integrity of what it is. At this point, none of us can see any reason to do that beyond what we already do. Just speaking for myself, I get to play all these old songs to people who have this strong relationship to it, in a similar way as I as a fan, have. But I also get to do my solo albums and continue that musical journey, and I see no reason to change that. We are at a very fine position now that we all just get to do what all of us wants. If there’s some kind of festival or some kind of show that doesn’t fit into our schedule, that’s fine. We do just the stuff that is cool for us to do.”