Gateways

The title really says it all. I had never given much of a listen to Dimmu Borgir, although the idea of symphonic black metal is a pretty interesting one. However, this fails to truly unlock the potential of what that subgenre could really be. I picked this song off of a compilation, so there was no harm in giving it a listen. The song is not terrible, but it is indeed lacking in many key places.

The first major point of exasperation is the guitars. They are barely present through the song, only coming out for one or two leads and a miserable ‘solo’, which is also a bore. During the rest of the song you can barely hear them, and what little there is are unoriginal and far from what black metal is, ruining that aspect of the concept. They portray a typical symphonic band rather than trying to incorporate black metal into that mix. Quite a disappointment.

The vocals here vary from decent to bad to worse. The decent parts are the choir and female clean vocals at the end section. The clean vocals by the main singer I find to be passable and fit the music very well. The regular black metal vocals are not bad on their own, but sound terrible when trying to mix with the rest of the atmosphere created. And worse yet are the first section of female vocals. Some demented cackling voice graces your ears, fitting the instrumental well, but forces me to conjure up a variety of creative ways to keep myself from hearing it again.

The symphonic aspect of the album is all right, generating some catchy melodies in some sections while unfortunately switching to background noise when some of the vocals come in. The orchestra uses some interesting percussion instruments that sound almost like a marimba. Some cool noises come in and out through the song, but there is nothing truly original or groundbreaking here; rather it is the same thing we have heard before in a different package.

The drums are by far the best part of the song. The double bass pedal varies from fast to in time with the melodies of the song, and there is even a drum fill somewhere in the mix. This aspect is truly representative of symphonic black metal, incorporating styles of playing from both genres. There is even some of beat patterns and I might even dare a blast beat. I thoroughly enjoyed this.

Bottom line, don’t buy this song. It is not terrible, but the shortcomings far out number what Dimmu Borgir succeeded with here. The song focuses on being catchy rather than having any depth to it, which is the major thing that annoys me here. I also assure you that there was actually a lack of bias here that has not been so present in other reviews, since I have no idea about Dimmu Borgir’s ‘experimentation’. There are far worse things, but simply pass over this one.