As much as I love their music, I find Dimmu Borgir has a sub par concert impression. Don't get me wrong though, the sound quality and the musicianship is phenomenal and the closest I've ever heard to Cd quality.

What I'm trying to say, is somehow they bore me on stage. I'd rather just grab some beers, stare at the wall then watch them? Anyone else feel the same way?

Here's a Sample concert illustrating exactly what I mean.

http://www.metalchronicles.com/blog/?p=42

I'm almost the opposite, I can never fully love a whole album by then but I do love many of their songs BUT they are fantastic live. I've seen them three times and every time they've been great, better than a full album listen.

Progenies of the Great Apocalypse, Sacriligous Scorn, Serpentine Offering are all fucking fun songs live. When Shagrath and co. are really into it, they can kick major ass. Two of the three times Vortex was full on windmilling nonstop whenever he wasn't singing, Galder was getting the crowd going and Shagrath was fun to watch.

I have to agree with El_Jefe on this one. I only like one and a half albums of theirs but I do think they make for a great live band. I missed their stop in my town but I wouldn't mind seeing them if the other bands on the bill were decent.

I think they have a great live presence, minus Galder's grimacing.

The one time I saw them they looked like fucking clowns. I think they suck, live or otherwise. They stopped releasing material worth caring about after Enthrone Darkness Triumphant discounting a song or two from their later works, and they look like the worst clowns on the face of the Earth.

"Hello ppl! Wer teh homosexual mallgoth astronautz in wannabe corpsepaintzzz! Aren't we kewl?!?"



I think not........

They're really boring live. Shagrath is like a robot when he's moving around the stage. And Vortex's (or whatever his name is) clean singing is just horrible on stage.

Dimmu Mk 1 put out good songs and I absolutly hated their albums once Galder and ICS Vortex got there. But Progenies of great is a good song and is perfromed well for the stage.

?

Vortex sounds fuckin' awesome live whenever I've seen him (DB or Arcturus). When I managed to see them awhile ago it was when they were opening for someone else and had a relatively short set but they really managed to get the crowd going and they created an atmosphere that was sounded good/was fun etc.

Edit: and I don't even like any of their stuff other than Enthrone Darkness Triumphant for about 2 months a few years ago.

And when Hellhammer joined, I could only shake my head. He must have needed the money bad though.

When I saw them Vortex was constantly off key, sounded weak, and had a really weak stage presence, besides looking like a homosexual clown.

Have to pay the bills man, something's gotta give.

So what? It's black metal, they all pretty much look like clowns. I don't see why their monetary agendas or their looks should weigh in that much into whether they're worth seeing live or not.

Unholy_Asar made no mention of their monetary agenda.
He only referenced their musical performance, stage presence, and appearance. All his criticisms are valid.

If you look like a jerkoff clown on stage, then it will hinder the overall impression of the performance, correct?

Edit: typo.

Cash is king. Money makes the world go 'round. You have a point. And besides, drummers get less flak for going to a band like that since it is their more physically demanding skill in need anyhow. As lomng as it's not too far off the mark of what they play.

It is true that drummers in general get way less criticism for the band's music, perhaps because of the presumption that they do not write the songs.

To be honest, Hellhammer is a bit too loony to judge accurately.

I think Vortex has sub par vocals, judging by the live DVD, but I can't say much beyond that. Wish I could. I REALLY want to see them live.

My opinion of Dimmu Borgir's work, live or otherwise, always falls into one of the following options:

a) Why am I listening to this? I'm bored to tears!
b) This really sucks. Fuck this shit.
c) SLAY THE FUCKING POSERS! THEY ARE A PLAGUE ON METAL!

That's my two cents, anyway.

I duno. I've seen them live 2 times. They aare great live, but it just lacks that epic feel that the albums have.

I've seen them live over a year ago and I remember the show as being one of the best I've seen. I like Dimmu Borgir overall, all their albums are competent to a different degree and I certainly don't agree with all the 'omg they're poser fags' bullshit thrown around all the time. They make good music, that's all I care about. And ICS Vortex is a great singer, the band's only untalented member being keyboard-player Mustis.

Although I do enjoy some of Dimmus material, the studio magic really does show when you see them live because they sound like shit. It sounds like a mess and as its already been stated by others, it certainly doesnt sound anything close to what was on the album. I stopped watching after 3 songs.

Wow, its really black or white here.
My 2 cents: I really enjoyed Dimmu when I saw them in 2006.

Imo, 'Spiritual Black Dimensions' was the last great Dimmu album, with lots of atmosphere (thanks to the fantastic synthesizers) After that, the synths went more into the background, Shagrath's voice became utterly annoying and cheesy with all those fucking vocal effects, and uber-triggered (bass)-drums were put in to make things sound 'extreme' (they just wanted to prove they could sound bad-ass, after all those keyboard-heavy albums) I have to admit, there are some newer songs that I like, but all last 3 albums combined, only about 5-6 songs are great imo.

Saw them Live 2 times over here, and indeed, like many have said before, Vortex's clean singing was abominable, and the stage performance average at best. Not bad overall, but not great either.

I have read in interviews that the reason the keybards aren't as pronounced on the newer albums, compared to the old ones, was that they couldn't get it right while playing live...What kind of shit is that? So they are just here to satisfy the 'fans'? Where has the 'we are just making music for ourselves' attitude gone? Money does strange things to musicians...

I didn't say he did - someone else did though. My point is that its black metal they all look like clowns on stage. And if you look at his initial post he made no actual comment about their stage performance other than 1) They look like clowns, 2)Bashing them because they are 'mallgoth' and 3)That none of their material after EDT is worth caring about.

None of that has any relevance to a thread about whether their live performance is worth it or not. It was only when pressed did he have anything 'valid' to say.

There's really only one problem; no matter how good they are live, it's still a Dimmu Borgir concert.

I've seen them once, just before DCA was released. They were okay, and I was pretty into them back then. The only reason I'd go see them today is to see Simen Hestnaes...and hope to meet him.

If it would cost more than $15 USD, and there weren't any good opening bands, I wouldn't go.

I saw them at the New England Metalfest about...geez...8 or 9 years ago. It was shortly after PEM was released. Bl0rg's assessment holds well for that performance, because they all just kind of stood there and did their things with smoke billowing all around them. Tight as hell with excellent sound quality, but the most dynamic moments were when Vortex took three steps forward to do his vocals.

Houston, we have a problem.

None of the band members lack talent. The problem is, none of them seem to be able to write consistently good material. They're all better off being in bands wherein they don't have much creative say.

Yeah, there's that too...

Alright.

Not all black metal bands wear corse paint and look like clowns, you know.

:lol: He's probably the most talented member of the band. They're all extremely talented individuals (aside from the vocals), but their songwriting is just...ugh.

Indeed, even Shagrath is talented as a multi-instrumental musician, but agreed he's not the most talented vocalist. I think Vortex is very good but I can understand the dislike.

I would've liked to have seen them with Skeletonwitch and Moonspell but for some reason they didn't play anywhere close to Ohio/Kentucky even though Skeletonwitch is from Ohio. Oh well.

So gratingly awful and horrendous in every sense. My friends and I went outside and hung out with Hypocrisy near the bus after a song.

I'm not a fan, but I did see them once live and I was surprised that they didn't suck as bad as COF did live (which is by far the worst metal related band I ever saw). Maybe I should take that back and give that to Pretty Boy Floyd instead when I saw them back in the day since they were the epitome' of suckage all across the board

Sounds like you've had a lot of concert experiences all across the board, man.

COF have a more entertaining image and maybe even better music at times, but I never saw them play.

I'm just old and saw bands by chance, perhaps was at the right place at the right time (or depending on what your interpretation is, the wrong place at the wrong time for some ). Playing music in the NYC rock scene for years had its moments.

Although I concur about DB, this was my COF experience.

I saw them on the second stage at Ozzfest one year and I was interested in seeing them (that's not why I went, now stop!!!). Nothing is worse than seeing these goth idiots sweating in 90 degree weather and Dani Filth screaching at the top of his lungs with a cheezy stage show (and not in a good way) at 4:40 pm while extremely hammered. The sound was atrocious and I attribute that to the sound guy, that is somewhat forgivable but they were just this overblown overorchestrated pile of shit. Seeing these guys melt in broad daylight just reminded me of when the wicked witch in The Wizard Of Oz was melting from that water bucket. I was hoping a witch would come along and throw some water on them to blow out their set, but I digress

I also saw Dimmu at Ozzfest another year on the main stage and they sonically were better, tighter and more professional. I liked that about them, but everything else I didn't like about them.

Exactly. That's why I said "from the vocals" rather than "aside from Shagrath," because he is a talented multi-instrumentalist (I'm glad you caught that). I love the guitar work on Stormblast, and when I first started learning to play metal on drums, I took alot of influence from the drum lines on "For All Tid", and when I'm just jamming, you could probably tell.

Agreed. I have seen both bands live once. Shagrath's vocals, while not very good, still sound aggressive when compared to Dani Filth's attempt at the screams he used to do. Dimmu Borgir was a tighter band overall, as well. Plus, it was just them (Dimmu Borgir) playing a set...no bullshit props and dancing butterflies, or whatever Cradle of Filth uses on stage nowadays.

I enjoy 1-2 songs from each of Dimmu Borgir's last three albums, but I can't stand a single thing Cradle of Filth has done after Cruelty and the Beast, aside from the Damnation and a Day instrumentals.

I seen them live with Keep Of Kalessin and they were pretty good that night, Lots of interacting with the crowd and good sound.
Shagrath doesn't sound to wonderful live though "Mourning Palace" just doesn't feel the same.

I love Dimmu Borgir but Mustis' keyboards aren't awesome...Spiritual Black Dimensions wasn't the best and the two follow-up albums were recorded with an orchestra, while In Sorte Diaboli's keyboard work isn't anything special for the most part (although there are some great portions). Their three first albums had excellent keys.

Stian Aarstad > Muutis

Despite the plagiarisms...

I saw them twice and thought they put on a pretty good show actually

but that was probably 4 or 5 years ago

they could've gone down in quality

I think Knjaz Varggoth would agree with many of the sentiments expressed here.

I'll be seeing them in February with Lamb Of God. Hopefully, it'll be a fin show.