Wrath of the Tyrant is an album of demo recordings released in 1992 by the black metal

Black metal

Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, shrieked vocals, highly distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, blast beat drumming, raw recording, and unconventional song structure....

 band Emperor

Emperor (band)

Emperor was a Norwegian black metal band formed in 1991. They dissolved in 2001, but reunited in 2006 and again in 2007 for a few festival dates and brief US tours. The group was founded by Samoth and Ihsahn .-Biography:...

. This batch of recordings shows an extreme difference in sound versus later albums, more akin to lo-fi death metal. This was the only time Emperor ever used down-tuned-guitars: the album was recorded in D standard, which was determined by Ygg's

Ihsahn

Ihsahn is a Norwegian composer, guitar, bass, keyboard player and vocalist. He is best known for his work with Norwegian black metal band Emperor. He has appeared in Thou Shalt Suffer, up until March 4, 2006, played in Peccatum with his wife Ihriel , and now devotes himself to his solo project,...

 and Samoth's

Samoth

Samoth is a prominent musician and multi-instrumentalist in the Norwegian black metal scene. He was well known for his distinct guitar work and drumming in the band Emperor, as well as his formation of the death metal band Zyklon...

 experience with death metal

Death metal

Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal. It typically employs heavily distorted guitars, tremolo picking, deep growling vocals, blast beat drumming, minor keys or atonality, and complex song structures with multiple tempo changes....

. "My Empire's Doom" eventually metamorphosed into "Beyond the Great Vast Forest" on the band's debut album, In the Nightside Eclipse

In the Nightside Eclipse

In the Nightside Eclipse is the first full-length album and fourth official release by Norwegian black metal band Emperor. It features one of Emperor's best-known songs, "I Am the Black Wizards". It was recorded in July, 1993 at Grieghallen and released in 1994 by Candlelight Records. The cover was...

.

In 1998, the demo recordings were remastered and combined with four tracks from the 1993 Hordanes Land

Hordanes Land

Hordanes Land is the debut EP by from Enslaved. It was also released as a split album a few weeks later with Emperor's debut EP, Emperor.-Track listing:...

split with Enslaved

Enslaved (band)

Enslaved is a progressive black metal band formed in June 1991 in Sveio, Norway, and currently based out of Bergen, Norway.-History:Enslaved was formed in June 1991 by Ivar Bjørnson and Grutle Kjellson when they were 13 and 17 years old, respectively. The band name was inspired by an Immortal demo...

 that preceded the original tracks. Two versions of this re-release exist; the Candlelight Records

Candlelight Records

Candlelight Records is an independent record label based in Europe founded by former Extreme Noise Terror bassist Lee Barrett, though it has had a division in the United States since January 2001. Candlelight Records specialises in black metal and death metal, having bands such as Emperor,...

 version has the cover of the Emperor demo and features video footage of live performances from the band, while the Century Black version has the "Wrath of the Tyrant" cover (to the right) but lacks the video footage of the Candlelight edition.

Although Mortiis plays bass on Wrath of the Tyrant, the band's official website has a picture of a band member (the same picture on the album) with the filename "tchort wrathcover", implying that Tchort

Tchort

Terje Vik Schei , better known by his stage name Tchort, is a Norwegian musician. He is known for his time spent playing bass for the black metal band Emperor and for leading the progressive metal band Green Carnation...

, who didn't join until In The Nightside Eclipse was recorded, is the person who appears on the cover.

Track listing

All music composed by Samoth

Samoth

Samoth is a prominent musician and multi-instrumentalist in the Norwegian black metal scene. He was well known for his distinct guitar work and drumming in the band Emperor, as well as his formation of the death metal band Zyklon...

 and Ihsahn

Ihsahn

Ihsahn is a Norwegian composer, guitar, bass, keyboard player and vocalist. He is best known for his work with Norwegian black metal band Emperor. He has appeared in Thou Shalt Suffer, up until March 4, 2006, played in Peccatum with his wife Ihriel , and now devotes himself to his solo project,...

. Lyrics by Mortiis.

Wrath of the Tyrant

1. "Introduction" – 2:20
2. "Ancient Queen" – 3:17
3. "My Empire's Doom" – 4:34
4. "Forgotten Centuries" – 2:51
5. "Night of the Graveless Souls" – 2:56
6. "Moon over Kara-Shehr" – 4:25
7. "Witches Sabbath" – 5:41
8. "Lord of the Storms" – 2:10
9. "Wrath of the Tyrant" – 3:58

1998 Edition Emperor EP Tracks 1-4 / Wrath of the Tyrant demo

1. "I am the Black Wizards" – 6:16
2. "Wrath of the Tyrant" – 4:14
3. "Night of the Graveless Souls" – 3:10
4. "Cosmic Keys to my Creations and Times" – 6:20
5. "Introduction" – 2:20
6. "Ancient Queen" – 3:17
7. "My Empire's Doom" – 4:34
8. "Forgotten Centuries" – 2:51
9. "Night of the Graveless Souls" – 2:56
10. "Moon over Kara-Shehr" – 4:25
11. "Witches Sabbath" – 5:41
12. "Lord of the Storms" – 2:10
13. "Wrath of the Tyrant" – 3:58

Personnel

• Ihsahn
  Ihsahn
  Ihsahn is a Norwegian composer, guitar, bass, keyboard player and vocalist. He is best known for his work with Norwegian black metal band Emperor. He has appeared in Thou Shalt Suffer, up until March 4, 2006, played in Peccatum with his wife Ihriel , and now devotes himself to his solo project,...
  
   – guitar
  Electric guitar
  An electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
  
  , vocals
  Singing
  Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
  
  , keyboards
  Keyboard instrument
  A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
  
  
• Samoth
  Samoth
  Samoth is a prominent musician and multi-instrumentalist in the Norwegian black metal scene. He was well known for his distinct guitar work and drumming in the band Emperor, as well as his formation of the death metal band Zyklon...
  
   – drums
  Drum kit
  A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
  
  , vocals on "Witches Sabbath"
• Mortiis – bass guitar