Dimmu Borgir - Dimmu Borgir

 

Hello.
Today we are going to enjoy the darkness of November, and we are going to be led by a band that used to be black metal and now.... not so much.
DIMMU BORGIR.

With that first coment, I understand that several of you, oh almighty readers, might think that i see this as a bad thing.
I do not.
My relationship with the Norwegian black metallers that have taken their namne from the cliff on Island started quite late. I know that their albums "Stormblåst", and the 3-word-titled-suite "Enthrone Darkness Triumphant", "Spiritual Black Dimensions" "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia" and "Death Cult Armageddon" are considered to be classics within the genre - but honestly... I have little or no love lost for them.
I've heard them, I own "Puritanical...", but they do not speak to me.
They do not touch me.
It was not until the epic first track of "In Sorte Diaboli" that I really understood anything of DIMMU BORGIR (the track is titled "the Serpentine Offering" and begins with a sort of "Lord Of The Rings"-esque intro before blasting ahead with both might and melody) and actually felt that they were a band worth listening to.
And then the 2010 record "Abrahadabra" came along and just turned everything upside down.

This is no longer black metal, and it is a record filled with orchestral arrengements.
The mixing and the production of the album is just poerfect for an audiofile with access to a great stereo (me!), and hitting play to allow this "larger-than-life"-sounding record to fill the room is an amazing experiment.
The band has used a real choir. They have used a real orchester (The Norwegian Radio Symphony Orchestra) , and the use of the real deal instead of keyboards or samples really pays off on this record.
It.
Sounds.
Amazing.

And it also presents us with quite a different tune to accompany the november darkness.
Yes, we are still in the suite of guest posts by me, Chief Rebel Angel, that presents a number of different tunes that can act as sound track to the darkness that we in Sweden call the month of November - and this, with all it's light and easy-listening-qualities somehow fits perfectly in to that cathegory.
It is dark, epic and emotional at the same time as it is bright and hopeful, weirdly enough - and for me, walking along autumn roads during the daytime, kicking large red and yellow fallen leaves cannot be done to a better song.

The band has a core of three members, Shagrath handling the growl and the keyboards,  Silenoz doing the guitars together with Galder, but the guest musicians on this albums are propbably the ones that makes it great. They are Snowy Shaw that handles bass and the clean voices, as well as Daray behind the drums. They do a great job, and it is a bit sad that they are not represented on the band promo pics (on the other hand - take a look at the top picture and think twice... is it really a good thing to be part of..?).

Anyway - here's today's tune. "Dimmu Borgir" by.. DIMMU BORGIR!




More info @

The Rebel Angel Ramblings Blog
Official Dimmu Borgir Web

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