I'm all about the In the Nighshade Eclipse myself. And you forgot In The Woods... Ninja
But Emperor is still better than them all in my opinion, INTE is a masterpiece. If you listen to it on good speakers that kind of offsets the bad production I find. And if you get past the production, it is just the most majestic album ever.
P.S Speaking of In The Woods... you should check out Carpathian Forest if you haven't already Ninja, I think they had the same guitarist or something. They're pretty over the top and kinda cheesy, but I think their still fairly spiffy.