In Sorte Diaboli

Dimmu Borgir have never been a very stereotypical and traditional black metal band and people who claim that the band "betrays the genre", "dishonours a philosophy" or "forgets about its roots" are completely wrong. After the last albums, this step was predicatble and the music they do on this record has become their unique signature and distinguishes them from all the harsh underground bands.

There is not much black metal in it and the band heads for something greater. An epic and well elaborated concept and a visually stunning cover artwork and precious booklet are the first visible signs that this band wants to create something more serious and intellectual than ever before. This album concentrates much more on an epic atmosphere than on the songs. The album sounds very coherent and there are not many tracks that stand out. Musically, the vocals remember rather charismatic death metal vocals than black metal shrieks. The blastbeats are still present and quite fast, but the drums vary more even if their sound is buried by the high amount of orchestrations. Dimmu Borgir employ more and more string passages that remember epic Hollywood scores, catchy piano melodies and mysterious choirs that a band from the gothic sector would chose in a similar way and a couple of melodic riffs that sound more inspired than ever before. The only problem is that this concept is repeated all over the album and there is no outstanding piece, surprising track or highly addictive passage. But at least, the mixture between metal msuic and orchestrations is quite equal and much better and easier to digest than on their next album "Abrahadabra".

My favourite track from this record is the album opener "The Serpentine Offering" that defines the new sound and face of Dimmu Borgir. An epic classical introduction leads to the song itself that kicks off in a smooth and very rhythm orientated way. There are great death metal vocals but also melodic and catchy male clean vocals in the track. Nevertheless, the band doesn't forget to include a catchy and still straight guitar riff in the song and something like a gripping and pitiless chorus. The band was right to chose this song as a first output of the album and they made a great and very detailed and well crafted video clip for this which underlines the ambitious concept. "The Invaluable Darkness" goes into the same direction and is probably my second favourite track on the record and it only has a less catchy chorus and less bombastic opening than the great opener.

The great closing track "The Foreshadowing Furnace" has a lot of changes from doom metal parts to high speed blast passages and gives us a good glimpse at the overloaded future of the band even though this track is still more consistent than the whole "Abrahadabra" album. I would name this track my third highlight from this record. A part of that I must underline that the European bonus track "The Ancestral Fever" is already a great gem that perfectly fits on the album but the American bonus song "The Heretic Hammer" is even more addicting and catchy. It reminds a little bit of the "Cradle of Filth" style only more diversified and this version is really worth to be purchased. A perfect version of this album would include both tracks.

In the end, Dimmu Borgir deliver a great and ambitious concept album that buries some songs and put them into some boundaries but the sound is not too overloaded. The band hits the right and equal mixture between epic orchestrations that remind of Hollywood scores and catchy metal passages with melodic guitar riffs and many ideas. I would say that this album defines a new age and style of Dimmu Borgir and is very impressing. I would say that this record is amongst the best albums the band has ever done. The problem is that black metal purists may find this album too soft, complicated and diversified while regular metal maniacs may still have a bad idea about the band because of the cover artwork, the topics and the band's past but an open minded metal maniac may discover a very good album in here. Personally, the band got their breakthrough with this album to impress me and make me explore their whole discography and the melodic and symphonic black metal genre that I have avoided before.