Interdimensional Summit

If this piece of shit doesn't sound like a cash grab, then I don't know what will! First of all, let me point you out the fact that the main riff, the keyboard riff, is about five years old and was composed using a drum program with basic beats and it stayed like that during this long hiatus. For five fucking years, it seems that the band did not exist, then just entered in the studio with some unfinished ideas, hired Gaute Storas to arrange the choir parts, and made Daray probably one of the most expensive metronomes on the planet.

Before I dwell in the song itself, I am a Dimmu Borgir fan, but I don't have to chew everything they spit at me. As with every product delivered by any favorite brand, I choose what I like from it and what to avoid. Truth of the matter, I was excited for Dimmu to release a new record, as eight long years are just too much from a band that got me into metal, and then, black metal. Just yesterday, I listened SBD and PEM in parallel with this song and it was painfully obvious that the guys from about 20 years ago are just dead... There is no more edge, there is no more intensity, there are no more twisted tempo changes, dynamics or tone changes, schizophrenic breakdowns or arrogant/elitist, purely Satanic messages. It's just something for non-metal fans to grasp if they are in an angsty, teenage phase, but only that.

So, the main keyboard riff doesn't go anywhere, it is just slightly and poorly developed by the guitars, i you can hear them properly, an it might stay inside your head, at least until when you hear another Dimmu song. And speaking of that, this song reminds me, structurally and somewhat teoretically, of Masses of a New Messiah, the extra song from SBD. That song was driven by a main keyboard riff, had about the same guitar ideas of developments, breakdowns, transitions, but it did not make it in the final album. Because it was inferior to the rest of songs - all of them; but boy, does it blow the new crap out of the way!

Now, I realize that, speaking of leftovers, it doesn't seem a coincidence Puritania is here. May I remind you that this song was a scraping decision during the PEM studio sessions, where some keyboard ideas were thrown in together with some industrial riffs and beats and some misanthropic lyrics. The live rendition I presume is from the recent DVD they put out... Why is it so frustrating to see your idols promoting their leftovers?! Do they not care to have their best out anymore?! Is is that hard for them to survive on music today?! I doubt that, seriously!

Before I end this in terrible disappointment, it's also awful that they had to hide their flaws with huge choirs and desperately loud vocals. Shagrath is ISD level, barely, with tired vocals and a less edgy performance. The choirs do have their moment, but if the song would have been developed since 2013, instead of staying basically the same since then, and just as a jam session tune, things could have been hell of a lot better. What ifs...

Fuck them with this one! I will try to hear their full length, but I think my idols will remain just a history note, somewhere in time. There are better bands out there, with much more ethical and passionate musicians, and there is just better music out there. Fuck, I need a drink now!