{"id":469569,"date":"2026-02-15T05:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T05:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/469569\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T05:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T05:44:10","slug":"i-am-the-black-wizards-by-emperor-the-story-behind-the-song","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/469569\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am The Black Wizards by Emperor: the story behind the song"},"content":{"rendered":"

For almost three decades, symphonic black metal<\/a> pioneers Emperor<\/a> have been a name consistently ranked among extreme metal\u2019s elite. Their unassuming origins in the snowy forests of Norway put them at the forefront of a game-changing movement, injecting eerily bombastic grandeur into the distant, lo-fi roars made infamous by contemporaries like Mayhem<\/a> and Burzum. Emperor\u2019s unhallowed union of mania and sophistication soon allowed them to birth the closest thing their subsect ever came to a \u201chit\u201d: the medieval I Am The Black Wizards.<\/p>\n

The opening track of the band\u2019s fiery self-titled EP and the subsequent harmonic high-point of their lauded debut, 1994\u2019s In The Nightside Eclipse<\/a>, this six-minute slice of orchestral extremity has been a fan-favourite for a quarter of a century. But when asked to give his thoughts on why the trailblazer has had such a crucial impact on heavy music, the eclectic Ihsahn is reduced to pure guesswork.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say. You could say that it has a rather strong hook and a melody line that is very distinct,\u201d he says. \u201cI would say that it\u2019s a very typical example of some of the early Emperor stuff. [Guitarist] Samoth would come up with the opening chords and I had a sometimes annoying tendency to find melody in those progressions. I Am The Black Wizards is an example where chords are tweaked into something that feels almost like a singable melody.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"Emperor\n<\/p>\n

Emperor in 1993 (Image credit: Press)<\/p>\n

The intense opening hook of \u2026Black Wizards is legendarily cathartic. Ihsahn\u2019s frantic strumming quickly descends into an oddly enveloping breakdown, where lead guitar shredding dances over thrashing rhythms and earth-shaking drumming. It\u2019s an unapologetic jolt of energy both on record and during any live performance. However, that invigorating introduction appears to have fallen into place by happy accident.<\/p>\n

I saw grown men cry when we played I Am The Black Wizards. It\u2019s a humbling experience.<\/p>\n

Ihsahn<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was nothing conscious about the songwriting or any thinking about hooks in those days,\u201d insists Ihsahn. \u201cIt was pure intuition; it was never as cynical as, \u2018Oh, OK, let\u2019s get the people going!\u2019 At the time, we wanted to have a limited group of people, [and] not the \u2018wrong\u2019 people listening to our music.\u201d<\/p>\n

As is inevitable with black metal, after another pummelling breakdown, Ihsahn\u2019s screeching wails slice through the mix, hissing words that punctuate I Am The Black Wizards\u2019 clear dark fantasy theme: a lyrical concept that was the bread-and-butter of early Norwegian heaviness.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s similar to Quorthon in Bathory. He was inspired by Mot\u00f6rhead and he wanted to sing about girls and driving fast cars, but he was only 16: he didn\u2019t have a girlfriend and he definitely didn\u2019t have a driver\u2019s licence. Ha ha!<\/p>\n

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\"Emperor\n<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Press)<\/p>\n

\u201cWith I Am The Black Wizards, it\u2019s [ex-bassist and songwriter] Mortiis\u2019s lyrics who other than him can actually make sense of them? I still can\u2019t make sense of them, but there\u2019s an energy behind them that just fits. It\u2019s so abstractly expressed that it resonates with other people who are in a similar space. I Am The Black Wizards\u2019 lyrics don\u2019t make sense, but you see people singing along, thinking, \u2018I am them!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

The epic imagery conjured forth by such lines as \u2018Mightiest am I \/ But I am not alone in this cosmos of mine\u2019 and \u2018Summon the souls of macrocosm \/ No age will escape my wrath\u2019 becomes increasingly apropos as I Am The Black Wizards proceeds to flourish further and further into grandiose territory.<\/p>\n

In keeping with its constantly empowering yet destructive tone, \u2026Black Wizards\u2019 mid-section and conclusion imbue the song with a mid-paced extravaganza of enticing lead guitar-work and heavenly keyboards, the sheer melodic brilliance of which perhaps epitomises the key to the anthem\u2019s unprecedented popularity.<\/p>\n

I Am The Black Wizards – YouTube
\n\"I<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of those early songs where the keyboards played a major part, especially in the mid-section. I get the feeling sometimes that, because we do play extreme metal festivals, the melody lets you tell those songs apart, in a way,\u201d Ihsahn proposes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI came back from playing a show in Poland yesterday: I saw grown men cry when we played I Am The Black Wizards. It\u2019s a humbling experience, as a music fan that has close relationships with songs from when I was growing up, to realise that you\u2019ve created a song that has had a similar effect on some other people. They\u2019ve attached emotions and memories to that soundtrack.\u201d<\/p>\n

Originally published in Metal Hammer issue 311 (June 2018)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For almost three decades, symphonic black metal pioneers Emperor have been a name consistently ranked among extreme metal\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":469570,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[88,216],"class_list":["post-469569","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-music"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469569","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=469569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/469569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/469570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=469569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=469569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=469569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}