Emperor guitarist/multi-instrumentist Samoth is featured in a new career-spanning interview with Ultimate-Guitar.com. An excerpt is available below:

UG: The back cover of Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk says "Emperor performs sophisticated Black Metal Art exclusively." Can you please explain your definition of black metal?

Samoth: "To me, black metal was always about creating some sort of atmosphere. Be it cold, desolate, and eerie or epic and majestic. Obviously, black metal should have a very dark, sinister and obscure foundation. To me, the sound and feel of old Bathory is really how I define black metal."

UG: The IX Equilibrium album in 1999 was a really brutal album. You had said this was a "return to the roots" of your earlier recordings. Can you explain?

Samoth: "IX Equilibrium definitely had a brutal edge to it, but it was also very progressive in many ways. So it was more a balance between the aggressive and the progressive. It was not in any way a return to the roots of Emperor, as our roots were really traditional black metal like Bathory and Celtic Frost, but it was more about pulling in some of our death metal roots. At same time pushing our sound in a more progressive way."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Back in October 2014, Emperor frontman Ihsahn spoke with Daniel P. Carter at Scuzz TV. They discussed the 20th Anniversary of In The Nightside Eclipse and the band's future plans (if any).

Ihsahn: "There's nothing planned. I mean, that was kind of the main goal for this — to keep it very limited, not get greedy about it or anything. This is a celebration for us and those who have a relationship to that album, and just make the most of it, but keep it limited and not overdo anything."

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of their legendary album, In The Nightside Eclipse, Norwegian black metal icons Emperor performed over the weekend at Wacken Open Air 2014, the annual festival taking place in Wacken, Germany. Footage of Emperor's full show can be found below.

Emperor's setlist:

"Into The Infinity Of Thoughts"
"The Burning Shadows Of Silence"
"Cosmic Keys To My Creations & Times"
"Beyond The Great Vast Forest"
"Towards The Pantheon"
"The Majesty Of The Nightsky"
"I Am The Black Wizards"
"Inno A Satana"
"Ancient Queen"
"Wrath OF The Tyrant"
"A Fine Day To Die"

Photo by Sebastian Ludvigsen