Anthems To The Welkin At Dusk

Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk is the second studio album by Norwegian black metal band Emperor, released on 19 May 1997 via Candlelight Records and Century Black. The album was recorded at the Grieg Hall in Bergen, Norway.

The opening riff of “Ye Entrancemperium” is sourced from an unfinished Mayhem track. Although Mayhem guitarist Euronymous, who was murdered three years prior to the album’s production, is credited in the liner notes, this track remains unreleased except on the Mayhem bootleg Ha Elm Zalag.

Prior to the album’s release, the EP Reverence, which included “The Loss and Curse of Reverence,” served as a preview. Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk was officially released on 8 July 1997 and reached number 28 on the Finnish album charts.

Compared to its predecessor, In the Nightside Eclipse, this album presents a faster, more guitar-oriented sound with reduced keyboard usage, incorporating clean vocals and blast-beat drumming. The album’s approach is described as “Sophisticated Black Metal Art” on the back cover. The lyrical content has transitioned from nature and Satanic themes to more mystical subjects.

In 1998, the album was remastered and re-released, including the three non-album tracks from the EP Reverence. A promotional video was made for “The Loss and Curse of Reverence.”

In June 2016, Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk was inducted into Decibel Magazine’s Hall of Fame, marking it as the second Emperor album to receive this honour, following In the Nightside Eclipse. In 2017, Rolling Stone ranked the album 57th in their list of ‘The 100 Greatest Metal Albums of All Time,’ and in 2018, Loudwire named it the best black metal album of all time. Metal Hammer also included it in their top 10 albums of 1997 in 2020.