The band were founded by guitarrist Samoth (who played drums in those days) and vocalist Ihsahn during the summer 1991 and evolved out of the band Thou Shalt Suffer. Originally, Samoth was thinking about a Celtic Frost / Bathory inspired band, and Ihsahn was really into the idea. They did two songs together, with Samoth on drums and vocals and Ihsahn on guitars. They played this to Mortiis, who liked it and joined the band. Emperor were born. Along with bassist Mortiis, they released their demo and were almost immediately signed to Euronymous' record label, Deathlike Silence. After this Faust joined the as drummer, relbandeasing Samoth so he could play on guitar, his main instrument. For a while the band got on well with one another but Mortiis and Faust did not get along well together so it was decided that it would be best if Mortiis left the band. This was right after Emperor recoreded their mini album which was released by Candlelight.

Things were not going well for the band with Deathlike Silence, who found Euronymous to be lazy and disorganised so the band decided to stay with Candlelight. A month after they signed with Candlelight, Euronymous was murdered by Count Grishnackh of Burzum. In 1994 they released In The Nightside Eclipse, one of the greatest Black metal albums ever made, one which many bands have tried and failed to copy. It was about the time the mixing for this album was finished that Euronyomous was murdered. Faust was then found to have killed a gay man at the Olympic Park at Lillehammer and is now serving a 14 year prison sentence. In late March 1995, Samoth was imprisoned for 16 months for burning a church. Ishahn was now the only member not in jail. He continued to write music and lyrics and try alternative line ups. None of these worked for a variety of reasons.

It wasn't until the release of Samoth in 1996, that Emperor began to start where they had left off. Ex Enslaved drummer Tyrm took over the drums and new bassist Alver also joined. On Valentine's Day 1997, they released the Reverence EP, which contained the video CD of the Loss and Curse of Reverence. It gave every one a glimpse of the new Emperor and prepared them for the the release of Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk. The album was hailed a success and Emperor retained their crown of Black Metal Kings and it helped to push the failing Black metal genre forwards. Its 1999 and Emperor have again showed all the poseurs what Black Metal sounds like, and in my opinion this is there most superior album to date - IX Equilibrium. Their next studio album is due to be released in spring 2001.