What a topic. They're both two of my favorite black metal bands (Burzum is my fave). Overall, I'd say Emperor has a very slight edge. "Transilvanian Hunger" is awesome, but "In the Nightside Eclipse" is, in my honest opinion, the greatest black metal album of all time. However, it's hard to compare the two bands. Their styles are so different. Sometimes I'm in the mood for Darkthrone. Sometimes I'm in the mood for Emperor. Lately I've been listening to Darkthrone more often. I've always listened to a lot of prog-metal (e.g. DT, Opeth, PoS), and I have been getting "progged out" as of late, so I've been preferring music as dirty and dissonant as possible. Consequently, I've been listening to a lot of Japanoise and early 80's hardcore punk, and I've also been on a Darkthrone and Craft kick lately. Yeah, it's ugly, but their music has tons of atmosphere and an astounding aesthetic appeal. "Transilvanian Hunger" just gives me the chills.

Emperor for me... I just can't get into Darkthrone really.

For me it is just the opposite, Darkthrone really got me into more "extreme metal", but I could never get into Emperor.

Both good bands

Emperor for creativity and superior musicianship and Darkthrone for being extremely prolific.

I voted for both.
Each one is good on their way, Emperor has excellen musicianship, very haunting melodies and a really good atmosphere.
Darkthrone has their sound to, the PUREST and maybe the TRUEST of all, I listen to them when I feel "Br00tal"

yeah... i was tempted to vote on both bands, since i'm a huge fan of them... but... Emperor is superior in my opinion hehe... i dont really know why... emperor seems to have ''more soul'', its hard to explain, you can really enter the songs and imagine the melody as you listen.
Darkthrone on the otherside, it's a different black metal, has some punk riffs and the atmosphere its not as dense as in Emperor songs (except in soulside journey until panzerfaust).
Anyway.. good thing that these bands are very different besides playin the same style, they really shows the complexity of a good black metal.

Emperor but they are shit and disbanded now. Darkthrone have a future even if they are too old and cold.

Darkthrone for me,I am not into emperor,not my kind of music

Darkthrone.... They put more feel into their music. Especially in Soulside Journey and Hate Them

I depends on my mood which band I like more. Sometimes I like symphonic Black Metal better, so I listen to Emperor, and some other time I'm more into raw, old-school Black Metal, such as Darkthrone. I must say that I listen to Darkthrone a lot more. Emperor is pretty good, but it gets a bit boring after some time.

Darkthrone... the new Black'n'Roll is awesome shit...
Really catchy and dirty.

And Emperor was never something interesting for me...

Written by Guest on 11.03.2008 at 15:44

Darkthrone.... They put more feel into their music. Especially in Soulside Journey and Hate Them

yea soulside journey is the best

//Darkthrone for me because i only like Anthems and Nightside by Emperor while I like almost every release by Darkthrone//

Hard choice.. I picked both, but I think I like Emperor a bit more. In the Nightside Eclipse is one of my favorite albums ever.

Darkthrone, hands down. I got into Emperor first and I love the shit, especially Nightside Eclipse, but I'm just too into Darkthrone past that! Northern Sky is a bone crushing album and it's been my favorite Darkthrone for years.

Emperor - always have been, always will be...

Emperor annoy me. They should just stop the melodic pseudo intellectual musical wankery.

Darkthrone shits all over them.

Emperor for me, even though I listen to more raw BM than melodic I can't stand Darkthrone.

Call me insane.

Both are good bands yes, but Emperor's first three albums owns Darkthrone any day! I guess that their more melodical approach appeal more to me.

While they both are good bands, I would say emperor is way cooler. lol. so guess who gets my vote

Written by Sunioj on 18.08.2008 at 19:03

Emperor for me, even though I listen to more raw BM than melodic I can't stand Darkthrone.

Call me insane.

Eh, I wouldn't, not everybody can stand Nocturno's vocals. Frankly, I think they would have been better had they remained a DM band. I mean, I still like their BM, but Soulside journey showed so much potential that was never fullfilled.

Darkthrone wrote some really good stuff, and Fenriz is a really awesome guy, but the newer stuff is kinda not doing it for me. Emperor blows me away from first demo to last album. Ihsahn ist ein übermensch!

Darkthrone is great but overall I prefer Emperor if I really have to pick

I like both bands but i'm more into Symphonic Black Metal so i'll go with Emperor.

Both bands are great but i voted for emperor,for me emperor is better than darkthrone

Im amazed of this
Darkthrone is great.......they spent their lives playing good music
they do not care if you weill tag them as black metal or whatevur
they shouldn´t be behind the votes.....
Under a funeral moon is a bad ass song
I will thank if someone can tell me if Emperor has a song as bad as as that one...........

I prefer to Emperor. Darkthrone is maybe too primitive and raw black metal for me, so I'm not really into it, altough some raw black metal is pretty good. It depend's in the band. Emperor is a bit more Symphonic Black Metal, which appeals to me better. I also like Emperor's latest album, "Prometheus", which is pretty progressive, and differs pretty radically from Emperor's first two albums.

What the hell...it's like comparing pears and apples...a pointless topic...

I like both bands but i voted emperor,i consider them better musicians,but it's kinda pointless to compare these two bands.

Both are good bands, but i like emperor more, i think they are better, Gods of Black Metal in my opinion... "an elegy of icaros" & "Curse u all men" are my favorite songs... and i like ihsahn the best...