Band: Emperors Lair
Origin: Frankfurt am Main
Genre: Stoner / Doom / Psychedelic Rock
Influences from: King Buffalo, Elder, Amplifier, Catchlight
Side Fact: The 4-track demo EP released by the band in 2019 was still purely instrumental. Singer Sebastian only joined the band following the release.
Sometimes I’m amazed at what a transparent musical soul I have and how well my fellow musicians now know me. The reason for this finding is a tip from a friend who gave me Emperors Lair hard to heart.
I’m a bit skeptical Dare Mighty Things heard and was impressed from the first moment. The more I listened to the debut album, which was released in February 2023, the more I was fascinated by it.
The ones from Frankfurt Emperors Lair started as a trio in 2018 and released an instrumental 4-track demo a year later. From this first sign of life there are large parts in an expanded and more mature form on the current debut album Dare Mighty Things done.
But this fact hides the fact that the band has gone through a huge leap and maturing process in such a short time. As a singer Sebastian been accepted into the band. He enriches the sophisticated compositions with his clear and unadulterated singing. At the same time, he is also responsible for the unobtrusive synths that give the album an underlying flow.
The heavy art of lightness
But the actual art, which Emperors Lair dominate is not only to bring a musical idea into the album, but to combine many influences in a seemingly child’s play. A sample of a sermon regarding the wickedness of rock music and the resulting verbal exclusion from the protective house of the Lord is the opener House of the Righteous Ahead.
The song develops leisurely for three minutes and floats on psychedelic keyboard clouds, which are pushed back to the ground by hard riffs. A break clears the way and the opener grooves endlessly, what you HERE can listen to. The mega-strong production is striking, which has put it several levels up compared to the self-produced demo EP.
Depending on which musical direction you tend towards, your favorite songs will appear Dare Mighty Things stand out. A bit of traditional stoner rock can be found in Gravity. There is a connection between psychedelic and brute heaviness Kronos. Here, however, the first exotic guitar melodies are already apparent, which later with The Elephant will play a bigger role.
A masterpiece of doom is The Mind’s Eye. This twelve-minute chunk of heaviness puts many established bands in the shade. Emperors Lair manage to place metre-thick riffs here and still give the singing room to maneuver once more and once more. In the course of the composition, everything is condensed by the flow of the keyboard sound and is varied by numerous breaks. The Mind’s Eye has almost bluesy tones in it due to its simple heaviness.
Fear and panic on the way into the dark
This sound roll follows the purely instrumental piece called Deimos. It is a further development or the twin of the instrumental Phobos on the demo EP from 2019. The sound is carried by spherical tones and gets an eerie depth from bass drums, which sound far into the room. Phobosthe fear and Deimosthe Panic, are two small moons orbiting the planet Mars.
Why do these play a role here? Also Emperors Lair cannot escape the fascination of outer space. Even the album name Dare Mighty Things is not only the perfect title for this complex and certainly costly effort of the band. It is also directly related to the NASA mission title Perserverance Mars. Singer Sebastian, as a fan of science fiction and old films, is said to have had a major influence on the creation.
Was already on the first EP The Elephant contain. But the song has changed massively through the production. The type of singing and the keyboard carpets have something longingly exotic and combine with an enormous brute width of the riffs. This track should be a shining example for all bands that settle for a mediocre production.What Magnetic Audio from Bamberg here for Emperors Lair gaining strength and volume is sensational. We don’t want to omit the mastering of The Tonmeisterei in Oldenburg.
Let’s end it mightily
The theme song Dare Mighty Things concludes the debut. Over ten minutes of complex and sophisticated music come together once once more. Bass and guitars unite to form a massive unit and yet towards the end the guitar has time for an extended solo.
The drums thunder while the vocals relax like a blanket covering everything. You can listen to the finale HERE.
This album covers a huge spectrum and also carries a development in itself. The initial pieces like Gravity, Kronos and The Mind’s Eye carry a massive indomitable hardness. In my view it will Dare Mighty Things towards the end it becomes easier to digest and therefore more familiar.
I can’t find any flaws on the album and I don’t know where the band will and can develop following this masterpiece. gives Emperors Lair your attention, because here an underground debut plays on the level of the premier league.
Line Up
Luis – Guitar
Djast – Bass
Simon – drums, samples
Sebastian – Gesang, Synthesizers
Links
Facebook Emperors Lair
Instagram Emperors Lair
Bandcamp Emperors Lair
Also on Soundmagnet.eu
Album Review – Catchlight – Helios Part One
Split-EP Review – Wax Mekanix / Troll Teeth – Blunt
Interview – Amaurot, Asked by Peter Svensson
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