Photos/Review: Emperor enthralled Hollywood Palladium

While there are many pleasures in life for everyone to enjoy on their own terms, most black metal fans can agree that Emperor is one of the most intriguing to watch do what they do best live. The mind of Vocalist/Guitartst Ihshan on stage is compelling to say the least. His genius writing is what makes them stand out. Also, they don’t need to look scary to get their point across. They just play as brutal as fuck. Finishing off a US tour with Agalloch, Wolves In The Throne Room, and Wayfarer, Emperor headlined a great show at the Hollywood Palladium in Los Angeles, CA on May 16th, 2025. On this specific evening it was only Emperor and Agalloch playing because Wolves was on a festival lineup, and Wayfarer was elsewhere as well.

Around 8pm, Portland based Agalloch brought their A-game to the stage with their darkened and doomy extreme styled metal. They have such a peaceful vibe that can take anyone listening down a rabbit hole of beautiful gloom. This tour pairing of Agalloch and Emperor is a good match when exploring the unique vibes and musical structure that they both possess. For Agalloch their strength lies in how they choreograph different genres of metal together. It stands out in such a unique style that they can’t really be mistaken. Other metal bands that mix genres similarly well in the doom and black metal variety are Nailed To Obscurity and Kvelertak.

Back to the Hollywood Palladium show, the crowd was engaged for the majority of their set, even though some were sad about missing Wolves In The Throne Room. Agalloch happily played almost an hour set time, and covered the whole album Ashes Against The Grain from 2006. They threw in a little of Slayer’s “Reign In Blood” as a teaser as well. This album is a great mix of folk metal and black metal. It takes on a very positive, well-received, or misunderstood vibe for its listeners. Either way, it was a not to be missed set from Agalloch, overall.

Agalloch

Photo Credit: Chris Loomis

Around 9:30pm, Norway’s Emperor crushed the stage with their scientifically, mathematically, nerdy black metal genius. Ihshan, as the main vocalist and guitarist, Samoth, and Trym make up the main core of this group these days, but the hair-whipping bassist and additional keyboards were added live as well, making the total a six-piece band. Samoth, was absent from one or more of their previous recent US appearances which included the late great Las Vegas Psychofest. This tour, he’s back and as ferocious in his guitar playing as ever. Their live keyboardist Jørgen Munkeby (Shining) is a fun addition, and works well within the group. They powered through a bunch of older album tunes, and they ended with “Ye Entrancemperium.”

For any Emperor fans, this was an absolutely fantastic show where the sound levels were as balanced as they should be, and everyone just appreciated getting to see a great Norwegian black metal band to tour the US even while Finnish black metal festival Steelfest was going on simultaneously, as it was taking some of the other great Norwegian black metal bands, such as Taake. Ending after about 1 1/2 hours, the fans were pretty satisfied with another great set from the wildly intense progressive black metal that Emperor shines at. See you at the next one! Stay metal!