Norwegian black metal institution Emperor are stepping well outside the usual T-shirt-and-patch merchandise routine. The band has teamed with Spanish label and creative house Down With The Most High Productions for the “Emperial Collection,” a run of custom-made, high-end collectors’ pieces built as a physical tribute to the band’s visual and musical legacy.
The collection’s centerpiece is the Emperor Icon E Shield — a full, life-size suit-of-armor shield made from die-cut steel. The band’s “Icon E” symbol is welded onto the front, which is finished with deliberately imperfect, engraving-style detailing: darker tones sunk into the recesses, polished highlights raised on the surface, for a weathered, historical look. The back carries an arm handle and an adjustable leather strap, and each shield ships with a certificate of authenticity signed by every member of Emperor.
Paired with the shield is an imperial standard banner, 60 by 70 cm, embroidered in silver-metallic and black onto black velvet, depicting the band’s coat of arms.
For those after something smaller, the collection includes jewelry in 925 sterling silver — a heavy seal ring and a matching pendant, both carrying the shield imagery, finished with black patina in the engraving and boxed in matte packaging with black velvet lining and silver hot-foil stamping.
There is also a clothing element: a large die-cut coat-of-arms back patch, embroidered in silver-metallic thread on high-grade synthetic leather chosen for durability. That piece is capped at just 100 units, supplied in collectable OBI-flap packaging with silver hot-foil liner notes.
The items are being sold through Down With The Most High, and will make their public debut at the Beyond The Gates Festival in Bergen, Norway.
Down With The Most High Productions is an independent Spanish label and production company specializing in premium, niche releases across black, death and thrash metal, with a focus on the quality of the physical product. Its founder and the collection’s curator, Daniel Dabadan Gayoso, framed the project as an attempt to build something lasting:
“The production of items for such a legendary band as Emperor was an important task that demanded the use of material that can be considered in line with the majesty and royalty of their music. Following the examples set in previous collaborations on Celtic Frost and Marduk projects, we decided to make monuments to music that will last forever. The use of forged steel, sterling silver and velvet will allow us to pay due respect to this symbolism.”
The Emperor set follows the label’s earlier fine-art and precious-metal collections for Celtic Frost and a recently announced Marduk line. DWTMH has previously worked with a long list of extreme-metal names, among them Tormentor, Possessed, Blasphemy, Beherit, Necromantia, Mystifier, Absu, Imprecation and Baxaxaxa.
Emperor, formed in 1991 and long regarded as one of the most influential acts of the Norwegian black metal wave, remain active on the live circuit, having toured in support of the legacy of albums like In The Nightside Eclipse.
