To give you an idea of who and what Dimmu Borgir are about, they are a Melodic Symphonic Satanic Black Metal band from Norway. The band consists of 3 main members, Shagrath on vocals, Galder on Guitar, and Silenzo on backup vocals and Bass. Dimmu Borgir's lyrics are usually about misanthropy, Satan, Anti-Christianity, and Rebellion. Most bands that come out of Norway are Black Metal bands and believe it or not, Norway's number one export is Norwegian Black Metal records.
The first song Xbir is an instrumental that could be described as a very demented Danny Elfman intro to a Horror movie. Starts out with a bellowing sound of a god like voice, then the song introduces the enormous sound of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and the amazing angel like vocals of Schola Cantorum Choir.
The second song Born Treacherous takes you for a ride as it goes through a roller coaster arrangement of moods from epic sounding to a rock riff then to a creepy middle par that sounds like a satanic tribe doing chants then back to the choir and finally ending it with blasting double bass.
The third song Gateways, is the albums first single also released with a music video. The video like always is very theatrical with the band dressed in white with very black metal looking cloths and jewelry. While Shagrath takes all the attention in the video Agnete Kjolsrud backs him up with high pitch vocals that could only be described best as perfect black metal vocals expected from a female.
Now the fourth song Chess with the Abyss is a great example of what a great symphonic black metal song is all about with the insane solos, blistering fast double bass, huge epic sounding symphony backing the main instruments and to end it a huge deep thunderous boom at the end.
The fifth song's name is Dimmu Borgir which means dark castle or dark fortress. I believe this song is about the history of the band myself. You'd know what I'm talking about if you knew the rough history of the band. With Shagrath being the leader of the band and always kicking out members for unknown reasons. The third part of the first verse reads "What bridge to cross and what bridge to burn, Deceit is everywhere you turn, We weed out the weak and their weep." When kicking out members of a band you might burn some bridges bit if you dons you might not be able to cross some.
The sixth song starts out with Shagrath saying something backwards with light acoustic guitar and then boom blast beats out of nowhere followed by the usual black metal symphonic keyboards but hen towards the middle of the song the keyboards unleash with what sounds like a flurry of angels. At 3 minutes and 24 seconds the feel of the song changes and gets an amazing groove that just forces you to move.
The seventh track The Demiurge Molecule I feel is my favorite song. At first I wasn't too sure of the vocals in the start it sounded like Cradle of Filth and God Forbid oddly. Just as expected the song changed feel and in about 50 seconds the song changes from a steady double bass pattern to this deep slow doom feelings with heavy sounding drums then into the only way I can describe it as quick short spurts double bass with like Star Wars orchestra style music backing it up with Harley Quinn from Batman on back up vocals! While all of this is going on the whole song sounds very sinister.
The eighth song A Jewel Traced Through Coal is the essence of a true Black Metal song dark and up in your face. The arrangement of this song is nothing less then a masterpiece starting with what sounds like tribal drums beating lightly and then in kicks the drums slow and daunting 3/4 time signature. With the drums ringing outs for a few seconds the guitar just sets the speed of the song while the drummer does some Norwegian Blasts.
Song 9 Renewal just start out heavy with a weird off time guitar riff and leads into a bad ass solo. Shagrath's vocal style is what I like in black Metal and what I mean about that is that you can feel his emotion vocals get really deep and echoing.
The last track on the normal copy of the album Endings and Continuation, starts with a very creepy tone and noises of dripping water and crinkling paper with Shagrath speaking. "Ages of the past, Abrahadabra, Forever to last, Enter the supreme unknown." this song is a good summary of the whole album with the most punishing of drums, bass lines, vocals, and guitar riffs.
Even though it took Dimmu Borgir eleven months to create Abrahadabra and some were afraid their recent touring would damage the quality, this is still one of my favorite Dimmu Borgir albums by far.
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