Before In The Nightside Eclipse, black metal – even Norwegian black metal – had presented many milestones. Thirteen years before its release, Venom belched their Welcome To Hell debut into the world, quickly followed by the album that would give the genre its name. Hellhammer and Celtic Frost had taken darkness on a more artistic journey than anyone before, while Sweden’s Bathory had nailed down first the cold slashes of black metal’s thrashing thrust with their first three albums (Bathory, The Return….. and Under The Sign Of The Black Mark) before bringing Viking mythology and the grandeur it deserves with their Blood, Fire, Death, Hammerheart and Twilight Of The Gods. Even Emperor’s neighbours in Norway’s Darkthrone had redefined what black metal truly was when done on purpose, rath...
