Interdimensional Summit

People seem to be close minded to the idea of Dimmu Borgir expanding their sound from their black metal roots. The biggest complaint I hear about Dimmu Borgir is that they “aren’t even black metal”. So? Who the hell cares? As long as the music is still good, then I see no problem. If you just have a preference for black metal, then just don’t listen to Dimmu Borgir’s newer output. So, let’s look at the song without that personal bias.

The song starts off with an exciting keyboard riff that carries on throughout much of the song. Guitars, drums, bass, and vocals soon join. The bass can barely be heard, let’s just get that out of the way, but the rest is great. The drums aren’t the highlight, but they support the song well, and some excellent double bass kick is added in. The harsh vocals in this song are decent, but the vocal highlight on this song are the choir vocals. The chorus, and bridge choir vocal melodies are fantastic, and are accompanied by some great riffing. Their is a slower middle section with some spoken word that I think fits quite well with the song. Then comes more harsh vocals and epic melodic symphonic metal. There is then an excellent guitar solo at the end of the song which ends with one final climax of the song. There is another choir vocal part accompanied by a great keyboard and guitar riff, and then it’s over.

Man, what a ride, I seriously felt like I was on a rollercoaster listening to that. If Dimmu Borgir is going to keep releasing music this good, (the whole Eonian album was great, so they likely will) then I could not care less whether they’ve lost their black metal edge.

I guess I have to review Dimmu Borgir’s live release of “Puritania” since it’s part of this release, but I won’t get into detail. It’s a great symphonic black metal song that I love, and the live version is just as good. It’s a stark contrast to the happier sounding music on “Interdimensonal Summit”, with darker music and more haunting abrasive harsh vocals.

Overall a fantastic release that makes me look forward to any future output from Dimmu Borgir, but PLEASE, if you’re going to review this single, identify your personal taste biases and put them aside and just...enjoy the beautiful music.