Eonian

Not really, I have a fucking lot to say actually, because Dimmu Borgir have wasted another hour of my life due to my sometimes uncontrollable masochistic side. This band really needs no introduction since they've established themselves at the forefront of commercial black metal, just like their British counterparts Cradle of Filth, who went a little bit downhill earlier than their Norwegian counterparts, but they have been more active, and are now producing solid releases. After eight straight years from their latest atrocity, an album which I refuse to even speak about, they've come with yet another shitty album. There was so much hype surrounding this album, but Dimmu Borgir managed to screw themselves by releasing the Interdimensional Summit single which received wide criticism from all sorts of metal fans.

I want to start of officially this review by spewing all the reasons on why this album is such a terrible effort which doesn't justify the incredible amount of time they took to release it. In hindsight I'm actually very angry at myself for actually wanting this to be put out, hoping that their short-lived great era would be gracing them once again. But alas, this fantasy hasn't come to fruition and sadly Dimmu Borgir have returned with another pile of steaming hot shit. There's literally no point to listen to every song on this album, because it's just one huge melody being split and re-shaped a nauseating amount of times, 10 songs to be exact, which will make you damn yourself for having been fooled by the deception that surrounded this album from the very start. The video for the single continued on the exuberance of their Abrahadabra and late 2000s era showings. But unfortunately, just like the previous music videos that have come before it, the video just falls flat on its ass once again. But enough with that. One major qualm I have about the first song, is that it could have replaced the Summit song completely as a single, only if it didn't have some major issues. The first and most obvious complaint which comes to mind when listening to the first track, is the over-use of the choirs. And this song was basically the harbinger of what's to come, because these choirs are going to take a prominent role within the album, most probably the band thought that the choirs would eventually balance out with the vocals of Shagrath, but nope. There's no harmony between those two factors. There's no balance which can be spoken of. The only thing which can be said with certainty is that the vocals and the choirs have been placed largely in a very chaotic manner, only being relevant during some pre-chorus or chorus, which suffers the same fate of becoming redundant after several repetitions.

One of the most apparent failures of this album, is the overall production. I know that most of the recording and producing and mixing was done in three or four years, but holy cow this album seems disjointed as hell. But listen to this, for the unseasoned ear which is mostly accustomed to pop metal like Metallica, Slipknot, System of A down and other nu-metal piles of crap, this album would sound flawless and completely flowing. However, for those who have acquired a certain taste for more complex and mature metal, this album simply doesn't hold up. Most of the songs don't really deviate from the traditional format of pop songs. Relying heavily on choruses in order to project a grander image of themselves which they themselves are unable to seriously demonstrate, most songs become boring much easier. I can honestly confess that I had to stop this album several times in order to wrap my head around it, and maybe try to justify the musical narrative which this album is trying to convey, but I'm failing hard every time. It seems that Dimmu Borgir, rather than hatching their own identity, have decided to ride the symphonic-third wave black metal wave without much thought, and have gone downhill ever since. There's literally no point to this album, all songs sound the same. Most of the times the guitars are either over-powering everything else just like the vocals, and on other times the drums is so high on the mix, that the guitar sounds just like an annoying buzzing sound in the background. That truly hurts the core of the song, which should be a reinforcing effort between all the members of the band.

Most of the riffs in this album sound the same. This album is driven by melodic synth beats by far, however, this album seems to be represented a more stripped down version of Abrahadabra. This point seems to hold up at certain points of the album, hell when I listened to "The Unveiling" I thought that Dimmu Borgir were going to become Watain/Dissection clones, but all that comes crashing down when the same tremolo picked riffs keep repeated time after time. If Dimmu Borgir sounded like any of the Cascadian black metal bands, I think they would have managed to keep such liberal use of tremolo picking much more interesting. This reflects the fact that Dimmu Borgir have never truly managed to find an image of their own. Unlike their other successful counterparts Cradle of Filth, who have adopted this pseudo-gothic image, Dimmu is still tethering on the edge between second-wave black metal, pure symphony/melodic black metal...or the more ambitious third wave of black metal. These guys are much probably going through an existential crisis, and this album shows the lack of cohesion of the members of the band. This album is a clear indication of how much money can have a pull on people. This is basically just a commercial failure.

Wait. I do have some good things to say about this horrendous output. One thing I liked is how audible the bass is in certain parts of the album, and how clear the bass drum can be heard. For me, the drums, apart from the symbals, had a very organic feel to them. Shagrath can still do some pretty amazing screeches. There are some good moments when the choirs and Shagrath are in perfect harmony with each other. I also dare say, that the album can be challenging a little bit and certainly shouldn't totally be considered as an album which serves as a conduit for darker releases and more underground stuff. The artwork is pretty solid, it looks very psychedelic and evil and unsettling at the same time. And those few facts alone have managed to keep this album from getting a total zero from yours truly. I can only suggest any potential listener of this album to only listen to the first song and the last song, which is instrumental and sounds very atmospheric and doom-mongering at the same time.