Abrahadabra

From a metalhead’s point of view, Dimmu Borgir is either despised or loved in their community. The band is regarded as “sell-outs” and “posers” to the average black metal purists while others regard them as a decent modern symphonic black metal band. Their eighth release (not including the Stormblast remake), Abrahadabra, won’t change opinions, more or less. If you are a fan expecting them to release a new album, this is pretty much up your alley. Otherwise, I know for sure that Dimmu will still be an effigy for the average metalhead.

For me, Dimmu Borgir is a pretty enjoyable symphonic black metal group. While not much special in comparison to other bands, their music pleases whatever time I have in my hands and can get addicting at times.

One of the most prominent parts of Abrahadabra is the orchestrations from the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the Schola Cantorum Choir. Perhaps even more so than the bombastic Death Cult Armageddon, the use of the orchestrations are more extensive than before and their work is actually very lush and well composed. It has a very dense layer of sound that fills throughout most of the album, creating a very dramatic, sometimes unsettling atmosphere. There are moments that the orchestrations can range from enjoyable to downright thrilling, like the end of the track, Gateways. Some gripes I have, however, are that the orchestration can feel cheesy at times and sometimes a bit gimmicky.

The other instruments seem to be more simplistic, particularly the guitar work of Silenoz and Galder. The two guitarists rely on power chords and tremolo-picked riffs that, while are pretty generic on their own, help support the orchestrations. Snowy Shaw’s bass work generally follows the guitars, so there is not much to write home about the bass. Session drummer, Daray, is a very proficient drummer. While not as technical as Nicholas Barker or Hellhammer before him, Daray is very consistent behind the kit.

And here we get to Shagrath. Sadly, his vocal work is a far cry from the Enthrone Darkness Triumphant days. While he does an okay performance overall, his shrieks are pretty dry and he has a tendency to speak in spoken word quite a lot. Thankfully, the uses of vocal effects are much more tolerable here without sounding too artificial.

The production has an acoustic feeling that feels less robotic and a bit more human. In particular, the drum triggers are not as obvious. In fact, it helped the album flow smoothly. If it had the same production has In Sorte Diaboli had, the score would be lowered to around 60.

75/100
As I said before, if you are a fan of Dimmu Borgir, this will pretty much please your needs and then some. Still, it leaves a bit more to be desired and it is still as flawed as their other recent works.