1993年夏，乐队开始录制他们的第一张专辑《in the nightside eclipse》，专辑1994正式发行。这时他们已无可争辩的成为blackmetal乐迷心中最重要的乐队。但在此期间，乐队也遇到了不少麻烦，由于个人信仰的关系，emperor将意味着失去samoth和faust。最终，他们永远失去了faust，他因杀人被判8年徒刑。samoth幸运的留下了，于是乐队开始重新编排，新的贝斯手alver和客串鼓手加入。

Displaying much more emotional range than many of its contemporaries, In the Nightside Eclipse combines black metal's noisy fury with synth arrangements and dark, haunting medieval chords and melodies, thus evoking moods of sorrow and loneliness. Awash in pagan imagery, the album was recorded in the Memorial Hall of Edvard Grieg for additional atmosphere, indicative of the record's ambition and of the band's willingness to experiment and push the limits of the death metal genre. In fact, In the Nightside Eclipse, although not quite as complex or accessible as its follow-up, is arguably the definitive Norwegian black metal album.