Enthrone was the first, "actual" black metal album I heard after borrowing it from the library.. Props to whoever supplied my local library with some banging albums.
Well, at some point, people learn how to play instruments, evolve in musical sense, and want to play something different, more or less grand. We, as fans, could like it or dislike it. True Black Metal is praised for its rawness and speed, and, I must add this, impossibility to hear what they are really playing. Some are just pure noise. Some are phenomenal. We have to understand that musicians that started this genre in beginning of the 90s are 30 years older. They understand music differently now than when they were rebellious teenagers.
This one holds a meaning for me, because it's one those albums I sort of grew up with. Heard it when I was 13 and it left a profound mark on me. I still to this day remember every riff, every drum beat and fill, every keyboard line and every single lyric. Now, that being said, listening to this album with fresh ears I can observe it from a wider perspective. And I can say it's waaay overproduced, it's too clean sounding. But the songs themselves are still great, and because it holds a meaning, I can totally live with it. Would I enjoy this album as much if I heard it today for the first time? I highly doubt it. I believe the production would throw me off. This one used to be my favorite album by them, but my opinion on that has changed. Stormblåst it is followed by EDT.
Like the whole 3 albums, Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, Spiritual Black Dimensions and Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia! And theirs earliest instrumental Inn i Evighetens Mørke part 1
This is my favorite from Dimmu, huge sentiment for that record which I find in top 5 best black metal albums ever made. 90s black metal is way better than anything from 2000s, thats how I feel and its kinda sad for me how Black metal is today mostly...
I think you hit the nail on the head with what you said about Mourning Palace. That song basically showcases exactly what your going to expect for the rest of the album. You either stick with it because you can't get enough of what it had to offer, or you get your fix from the song and know the rest is of the same quality but not quite 'all singing all dancing' as MP.
Cradle’s Midian was the first gothic/BM album I heard as a teenager, and Enthrone was the first metal CD I bought. I only picked it up because of the cover, but it changed my life!
For me that album was the pinnacle of the 90s black metal.and still holds up to me to the day.i think that album sound influenced a lot of greatbands that hit harder in the late 90s and early 2000s.like ceremonial castings/uada deathspell omega weakling and even ruins ofbeverast.
This is the first black metal album I heard over 20 years ago. And it is still one of my favorite albums of all time. I put it up there with Filosofem, In the Nightside Eclipse and Dark Medieval Times. This was the album that got me into black metal in the first place. I still listen to this on a regular basis. There are many haters of this album and this band, but I bet most of them werent even born when I got into black metal.
Awesome review Rauta. I’m not a big fan of Dimmu, but I love bands like Summoning. Makes me wonder what the difference is in my mind. Keep up the good work, hope you are doing well.
I'd say pretty much the same as you about it's test of time, Jerry! It was very groundbreaking at the time, when it came out, but it would never get the attention now days, if it would be a brand new release 2021! And I share the opinion of yours about the importance, that it was Nuclear Blast who released this album, cause before this record, they released a "Devil's Path" MCD, which had the "Master of Disharmony" song, and the sound quality on that song was "necro" to compare with the "EDT" version! But according to Silenoz in an interview; Nuclear Blast wanted them to go to a studio, where they'd get a proper sound and since Hypocrisy was in the same label, that's how they went to Abyss studio in Sweden to record the album! I still get the nostalgia and all and I still listen it occasionally, though not so much as I did, when I was a kid, but what I have noticed, is that pretty much EVERY SINGLE Norwegian BM band after this album switched their sound to "good production" (YES, EVEN DARKTHRONE!). Every band who had started their career already and had few "necro" sounding products out there, they all went to "good production" after this release, so that tells about (for better and/or worse) the impact of this release around the genre! I personally like the sound of this album and I think it does justice to the tracks more, instead of been recorded in the "devil's path" MCD style and for example the bonus track "Raabjorn speiler...", which is originally from the debut release, I think it sounds amazing with the "EDT" sounds (even though I still appreciate the debut album version too!) All in all I think personally, that this album was a good kick to the BM scene at the time and I think, if this album should be remembered about something, so it would be definitely because of the choise of sound the album has considering the time period, when it was released! So yeah, nice opinion-rant Jerry and keep these coming, cause there is lot's of interesting albums, like this one, which should be picked up for "check how they're doing" after good amount of time of their release and speak about their place and importance in the music world! ;) (ja nyt muistin ekaa kertaa alottaa englanniks, niin ei tarvitse ulkomaalasten raapia päätään... :D ) Cheers man! ;)
Thanks, Teemu. I also think that this kind of albums definitely benefit of good massive production vs. so-called necro sound. I think that production is one of the main reasons why this album sounds this good.
@@RautaMetal For me Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia takes the cake. Vortex and his clean vocals add another dimension to the music, they used some real orchestra in the arrangements besides just pure keyboard sounds for the first time, they added galder (who I loved from his work in dodheimsgard, not so much from old man's child although I enjoy I'll Natured Spiritual Invasion) and the overall music and riffs are the best that dimmu ever came up with (in my opinion of course). For me, they never matched that LP.
For my opinion this is maybe the second best Black Metal album of all time after Immortal’s At The Heart Of Winter. I don’t care if it’s mainstream or not. I have listened album regularly during last 20 years. I think cheesy is something like Five Finger Death Punch :)
Yeah, for me I think this was the first Dimmu album. Never got to like Stormblåst. Sounded always too plastic for me. For all tid was OK but the song-writing wasn't that good IMO.
Dimmu are a hit and miss band for me. Enthroned and Spiritual were miss albums - I got bored of them fairly quickly. I'll have to take a gander at them again at some point in the future
Hey Jerry. I consider Cradle of Filth more a commercial band for the good and the bad reasons than Dimmu Borgir. I'm no fan of Filth unlike Dimmu. I'd say Dimmu's Black metal is more ear-friendly. When I think of Dimmu, only good souvenirs come to my mind. As far the song structures are concerned like Emperor they allowed me to rediscover and reconsider the classical and the Orchestrated musical genres which happen to be among my favorite genres besides Metal. I don't find their keyboard driven songs and their high produced albums too cheesy. Like Emperor and Vesania, I think they managed very skillfully to put darkness in their music with the use of keyboards. Of course, they were lucky to have their albums produced and mixed by (the Great Ones such as) Peter Tägtgren, Fredrik Nordström (but don't get me wrong, there are of course other ways to put darkness in your music). My personnal favorite would be "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia" because it opened other musical gates for me such as Emperor for example.
If I think from a sales point of view, I'd say it's easier to sell Dimmu Borgir than Cradle of Filth: both for the image and the music (ear-friendly) and as such I'd say DB is the more commercial one. But in the end it doesn't matter. For me some of these ideas are too cheesy, but of course that's exactly the reason why so many people love this album - much like in mainstream music.
Those keyboard/symphonic black metal albums of the mid to late 90s did not age well (I used to love limbonic art, but now I think they're cheesy as hell). I only think 3 albums stand the test of time; Arcturus and their Aspera hiems symfonia, Summonings Stronghold, and Emperor with Anthems to the...... Emperor is actually a different story altogether, they have a lot of keyboards but I wouldn't consider them on the same level of symphonic black metal as dimmu or cradle.
There's definitely a difference between 'symphonic' and 'band that uses lots of keyboards'. I like quite a few bands that do the latter but I can't stand most labelled as the former. I think this album does a pretty good job for the most part.
If I know my history correctly, Dimmu were impressed by the production on Dark Funeral's "Secrets of the Black Arts". That being said I enjoy "EDT" generally but it isn't a favorite in black metal. Historically speaking for the genre it was influential in a sense that it proved black metal COULD be well produced but...in my humble opinion... Emperor's "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk" (which came out the same year) set the bar as far as "well-produced" black metal. Emperor prioritized their riffs and melodies over the keys which makes it better imo.
There are a few great songs on this album, but the production kills it for me. Just compare Master of disharmony to the e.p. version. I listen to it once in a while and get medium enjoyment out of it. It didn’t stand the test of time for me.
I'm with you on this, in that I think Dimmu really came into their own later, starting with 'Deathcult Armageddon'. All of those theatrical elements that they had hinted at before coalesced into something substantial. Like black metal's (off) broadway show, or the soundtrack to a slightly more satanic version of Tim Burton's 'Nightmare...'. You did well to bring up Emperor, as their 'Anthems...' album was certainly the one to beat (& still is!), & in this Dimmu just do not compare, then or now. To be fair though, it's not every band who had a musical genius within their ranks like Emperor did.
Thanks. But I have to say that even though I don't fancy either one (Enthrone... or Anthems...) too much, I'd nowadays rather listen to Entrone than Anthems. In my books Anthems has better songs but is overall a bit weaker than Enthrone.
@@RautaMetal So 'Anthems...' is a 6/10 for you? Of course we've both probably seen Anthems top many a black metal list over the years. I'd always ranked it highly but what really catapulted it to the top tier for me was watching them play it live at a festival a few years back. There had just been a downpour & they went on with thunder & lightning in the distance behind them, & if you turned your head around, Mars was this piercing brilliance in the night sky. Perfect ambience for a band I'd never seen before & went expressly to the festival for. Dimmu I've seen once, & though I enjoyed it, the 'cheese factor' that you brought up was there in spades. Such a contrast! Both bands have been commercially successful, but one was trying to be whilst the other eventually happened to be & is now a legacy live act. Criticisms towards both abound, though for different reasons.
Anthems is solid 7/10 for me. Has like 2-3 very good songs, a couple of goodish songs and the rest is just decent at best. Would’ve been a great MCD if only best songs picked but towards the end it becomes quite dull. Something that I get by dozens these days review. Of course a perfect live experience can make even an album better, so I get ya. I remember one particular Morbid Angel experience when it started to rain during the gig and David Vincent said something like ”Even the heaven weeps when we are on stage” and it just gave me goosebumps. So yes, a good live can definitely bring a band or an album to a next level - but also ruin it if the live is shitty, sloppy or uninterested performance.
This album is decent to listen to. It was a change to what we previously had heard from For all Tid and Stormblast at the time and for me, it's not really that special. It doesn't suck and it works in its own way. Honestly, it's complicated for me to string up the words to describe how I really feel about it but it's not terrible, just not quite there for me...
Enthroned Darkness Triumphant surprised me and everyone by saying "black metal can be this well produced and accessible". There were a few albums like this at that time, and back then I kind of liked it (a bit, I basically only listened to Mourning Palace) . It also marked the end of my interest in DB. All music genres have this "underground vs mainstream" conflict, but in the case of BM things are a bit different because at its core the genre is fundamentally anti-social, if not anti human. Black metal works with small festivals full of "toxic males", but almost by definition something has gone wrong as soon as a BM band is accepted by the mainstream music industry (including the "alternative" music industry). Obviously, it can still be good music, and be best described by the term black metal, but it is still cut off from its "source" and I tend to loose interest quickly. Commercial black metal is kind of like the Sherlock Holmes action movies compared to the original novels and short stories: much money, much technical skill, but in the end deeply pointless and inferior to the original... EDT was better than that, but it was still far from the Dimmu Borgir that did interviews with WHEREISMYSKIN zine discussing their misanthropy. I remain a 'For All Tid' guy (then again I'm past 40 and wearing a Spear of Longinus Nada Brahma shirt with NOM spelled out on the back, so maybe not listen to me, kids).
Aye, you're very much right about it. Now, the funny thing is: many bm people say what you just wrote. Yet still most ug bands get ignored because there's no hype for them, no talk about them etc. I see this trend clearly with my TH-cam statistics. Once a bigger band releases and album and I do a review of that: big numbers, lots of views. When I review an unknown band of similar quality, but no name or no hype, only a few views. My point: BM ppl are essentially exactly the same as any other genre, despite what the people think or claim.
@@RautaMetal One reason could be that more people have some kind of relationship to the famous bands (at least if they are so old that we all listened to them back in the day). And don’t forget: everyone likes to complain more than say positive things about stuff. I have the Circle of Dawn albums and listen to them with more pleasure and more often than whatever the Norwegians (any of them) have put out for 15+ years. Still, if you review them I can only say ”Fuck yeah! Vittu!- Circle of Dawn!!!!!” Right or wrong, I’ll be more motivated to comment on videos about 90s bands that I loved back in the day, but now don’t really like anymore... Also, it should be added that many mainstream BM bands actually became mainstream in the first place because they were great, it’s just that it is very difficult to maintain the ”tension” as you expand and usually they loose the edge. Doing some symphonic satanic stuff while bitching about the Christians in Northern Europe 2021 is simply very, very un-edgy (I doubt Sanna Marin or Stefan Löfven would even be slightly offended by ”fuck christianity” slogans...). Some manage it, though. Marduk, Impaled Nazarene, Horna, Burzum and so on remain full power (musically uneven, of course, but they are still the real deal, regardless of specifics). I have a strange hope for the upcoming Darkthrone, don’t ask me why.
You should do a ranking worst to best. After in sorte diaboli the band became quite mediocre and also death cult armagedon is an average album but I don't get all the hate about their whole carrier and this album is great by the way.
It's basically their 'Black Album' if you want to compare it to Metallica. It was a turning point. I love the album, but after that the symphonic thing started to overtake the more rough edges of their sound. And I didn't like that. I tried a few albums after this but couldn't get into them and basically lost interest in the band. Similar thing happened to Metallica for me after their Black Album.
I have a few of their albums and to be honest I don’t really know why.For all Tid is a very good piece of work ,the song stien being my favourite on that album.storm blast was ok but after that I’m really struggling to recommend a decent album other than puritanical euphoric misanthropia (only because it has nick barker on drums and a cool cover of twisted sister’s burn in hell).Last album I bought and was very disappointed was in sorte diaboli .Just over the top theatrical compositions and very weak song writing.Shagraths corpse paint is a joke too.I think they went downhill even faster when galder joined them.Apart from for all tid and maybe storm blast I can’t really say this band stands up to the likes of Limbonic art or Gehenna.I’d never call godless savage garden a classic even though I have the album.Just by the numbers mediocre Dimmu borgir.
I totally get ya. Dimmu sort of became a meme band over the years with their theatrics and different costume roleplays. While the "Mad Max look" was cool, their Narnia look was just plain ridiculous. Like said, tho, I think with Eonian they got their shit together and it sounds good.
@@RautaMetal I have listened to Eonian and it is an improvement but I just think the band has disappeared up its own rear end much like Satyricon has .They have undoubted musical talent but unfortunately for me style has overtaken substance on their part.Never been a massive fan of the whole symphonic blackmetal genre to be honest but there are band who do it better than dimmu borgir and have more of an edge to their sound like Gehenna or perhaps Arcturus.
![American death metal pioneers: Necrophagia - Worst to Best [OPINION]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/M-SEvrk4hp8/mqdefault.jpg)
![American death metal pioneers: Necrophagia - Worst to Best [OPINION]](/img/tr.png)
Exquisite masterwork. My favorite from Dimmu Borgir. As far as I'm concerned they'll never top it.
Enthrone was the first, "actual" black metal album I heard after borrowing it from the library.. Props to whoever supplied my local library with some banging albums.
haha same for me dude! Good old library introduced me to Dimmu and Black metal as a genre. loved it
Well, at some point, people learn how to play instruments, evolve in musical sense, and want to play something different, more or less grand. We, as fans, could like it or dislike it.
True Black Metal is praised for its rawness and speed, and, I must add this, impossibility to hear what they are really playing. Some are just pure noise. Some are phenomenal.
We have to understand that musicians that started this genre in beginning of the 90s are 30 years older. They understand music differently now than when they were rebellious teenagers.
This one holds a meaning for me, because it's one those albums I sort of grew up with. Heard it when I was 13 and it left a profound mark on me. I still to this day remember every riff, every drum beat and fill, every keyboard line and every single lyric. Now, that being said, listening to this album with fresh ears I can observe it from a wider perspective. And I can say it's waaay overproduced, it's too clean sounding. But the songs themselves are still great, and because it holds a meaning, I can totally live with it. Would I enjoy this album as much if I heard it today for the first time? I highly doubt it. I believe the production would throw me off.
This one used to be my favorite album by them, but my opinion on that has changed. Stormblåst it is followed by EDT.
Like the whole 3 albums, Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, Spiritual Black Dimensions and Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia! And theirs earliest instrumental Inn i Evighetens Mørke part 1
This is my favorite from Dimmu, huge sentiment for that record which I find in top 5 best black metal albums ever made. 90s black metal is way better than anything from 2000s, thats how I feel and its kinda sad for me how Black metal is today mostly...
The most important album for me. First one that opened the gates.
Same! ...Gate to BM anyway...
I liked this album then and still do. Not their best, but ok. Nice to listen live too.
This record its a masterpiece 🤘🤘
On every You Tube video there is some fool in the comments declaring it a "masterpiece"...
@@Count_Deangeli ?
When I listened to "Mourning Palace" I was floored. That song got the magic. The rest of the album has too much stuff in it, too long
great ____ fave album
Oh yes one of my faves! No matter what people say. What an atmosphere peter tägtgren created on this album.
I think you hit the nail on the head with what you said about Mourning Palace. That song basically showcases exactly what your going to expect for the rest of the album. You either stick with it because you can't get enough of what it had to offer, or you get your fix from the song and know the rest is of the same quality but not quite 'all singing all dancing' as MP.
Thanks!
I've always been a Big Dimmu Borgir fan. This is arguably their best album. I wish they were still releasing albums like this!
Cradle’s Midian was the first gothic/BM album I heard as a teenager, and Enthrone was the first metal CD I bought. I only picked it up because of the cover, but it changed my life!
Thanks for sharing!
For me that album was the pinnacle of the 90s black metal.and still holds up to me to the day.i think that album sound influenced a lot of greatbands that hit harder in the late 90s and early 2000s.like ceremonial castings/uada deathspell omega weakling and even ruins ofbeverast.
I had a dimmu burger for lunch yesterday.
There was actually a burger with that name at some Steelfest a few years ago. Slayer burger, too. Too bad there wasn't Satyricola :P
@@RautaMetal yeah I heard about that haha.
This is the first black metal album I heard over 20 years ago. And it is still one of my favorite albums of all time. I put it up there with Filosofem, In the Nightside Eclipse and Dark Medieval Times.
This was the album that got me into black metal in the first place.
I still listen to this on a regular basis. There are many haters of this album and this band, but I bet most of them werent even born when I got into black metal.
I understand! It was one of the rather early ones for me, too, in 1997 when it came out. Liked it a lot back then.
Awesome review Rauta. I’m not a big fan of Dimmu, but I love bands like Summoning. Makes me wonder what the difference is in my mind. Keep up the good work, hope you are doing well.
Cheers!
I'd say pretty much the same as you about it's test of time, Jerry! It was very groundbreaking at the time, when it came out, but it would never get the attention now days, if it would be a brand new release 2021! And I share the opinion of yours about the importance, that it was Nuclear Blast who released this album, cause before this record, they released a "Devil's Path" MCD, which had the "Master of Disharmony" song, and the sound quality on that song was "necro" to compare with the "EDT" version! But according to Silenoz in an interview; Nuclear Blast wanted them to go to a studio, where they'd get a proper sound and since Hypocrisy was in the same label, that's how they went to Abyss studio in Sweden to record the album!
I still get the nostalgia and all and I still listen it occasionally, though not so much as I did, when I was a kid, but what I have noticed, is that pretty much EVERY SINGLE Norwegian BM band after this album switched their sound to "good production" (YES, EVEN DARKTHRONE!). Every band who had started their career already and had few "necro" sounding products out there, they all went to "good production" after this release, so that tells about (for better and/or worse) the impact of this release around the genre! I personally like the sound of this album and I think it does justice to the tracks more, instead of been recorded in the "devil's path" MCD style and for example the bonus track "Raabjorn speiler...", which is originally from the debut release, I think it sounds amazing with the "EDT" sounds (even though I still appreciate the debut album version too!)
All in all I think personally, that this album was a good kick to the BM scene at the time and I think, if this album should be remembered about something, so it would be definitely because of the choise of sound the album has considering the time period, when it was released! So yeah, nice opinion-rant Jerry and keep these coming, cause there is lot's of interesting albums, like this one, which should be picked up for "check how they're doing" after good amount of time of their release and speak about their place and importance in the music world! ;) (ja nyt muistin ekaa kertaa alottaa englanniks, niin ei tarvitse ulkomaalasten raapia päätään... :D ) Cheers man! ;)
Thanks, Teemu. I also think that this kind of albums definitely benefit of good massive production vs. so-called necro sound. I think that production is one of the main reasons why this album sounds this good.
hellou jerry!!best dimmu is spiritual black dimension forsure!!!
Not for me, for sure :)
@@RautaMetal
For me Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia takes the cake. Vortex and his clean vocals add another dimension to the music, they used some real orchestra in the arrangements besides just pure keyboard sounds for the first time, they added galder (who I loved from his work in dodheimsgard, not so much from old man's child although I enjoy I'll Natured Spiritual Invasion) and the overall music and riffs are the best that dimmu ever came up with (in my opinion of course). For me, they never matched that LP.
@@RautaMetal yep totally understand :) :)for sure
For my opinion this is maybe the second best Black Metal album of all time after Immortal’s At The Heart Of Winter. I don’t care if it’s mainstream or not. I have listened album regularly during last 20 years. I think cheesy is something like Five Finger Death Punch :)
You clearly like the light end of black metal :-)
Stormblåst or For All Tid might’ve made a more lasting first impression but I guess this is the album you heard first.
Yeah, for me I think this was the first Dimmu album. Never got to like Stormblåst. Sounded always too plastic for me. For all tid was OK but the song-writing wasn't that good IMO.
@@RautaMetal the re-issue stormblast is amazing, much better than the original one in my opinion.
Great!!!
Entrance is a great track and the live video from Poland is a cool watch
Dimmu are a hit and miss band for me. Enthroned and Spiritual were miss albums - I got bored of them fairly quickly. I'll have to take a gander at them again at some point in the future
lookin back i guess it was by design a gateway album to obscure scene Bigtop BM , still enjoyable right mood
I love this album
Hey Jerry.
I consider Cradle of Filth more a commercial band for the good and the bad reasons than Dimmu Borgir. I'm no fan of Filth unlike Dimmu. I'd say Dimmu's Black metal is more ear-friendly.
When I think of Dimmu, only good souvenirs come to my mind.
As far the song structures are concerned like Emperor they allowed me to rediscover and reconsider the classical and the Orchestrated musical genres which happen to be among my favorite genres besides Metal.
I don't find their keyboard driven songs and their high produced albums too cheesy. Like Emperor and Vesania, I think they managed very skillfully to put darkness in their music with the use of keyboards. Of course, they were lucky to have their albums produced and mixed by (the Great Ones such as) Peter Tägtgren, Fredrik Nordström (but don't get me wrong, there are of course other ways to put darkness in your music).
My personnal favorite would be "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia" because it opened other musical gates for me such as Emperor for example.
If I think from a sales point of view, I'd say it's easier to sell Dimmu Borgir than Cradle of Filth: both for the image and the music (ear-friendly) and as such I'd say DB is the more commercial one. But in the end it doesn't matter.
For me some of these ideas are too cheesy, but of course that's exactly the reason why so many people love this album - much like in mainstream music.
It's ridiculous a masterpiece in the Black Metal world.
Those keyboard/symphonic black metal albums of the mid to late 90s did not age well (I used to love limbonic art, but now I think they're cheesy as hell). I only think 3 albums stand the test of time; Arcturus and their Aspera hiems symfonia, Summonings Stronghold, and Emperor with Anthems to the...... Emperor is actually a different story altogether, they have a lot of keyboards but I wouldn't consider them on the same level of symphonic black metal as dimmu or cradle.
There's definitely a difference between 'symphonic' and 'band that uses lots of keyboards'. I like quite a few bands that do the latter but I can't stand most labelled as the former. I think this album does a pretty good job for the most part.
Yes. Some albums in this genre haven't aged well. Synth sounds age worse than guitars.
Not a big Dimmu fan, but this album is great. 85% for me.
If I know my history correctly, Dimmu were impressed by the production on Dark Funeral's "Secrets of the Black Arts". That being said I enjoy "EDT" generally but it isn't a favorite in black metal. Historically speaking for the genre it was influential in a sense that it proved black metal COULD be well produced but...in my humble opinion... Emperor's "Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk" (which came out the same year) set the bar as far as "well-produced" black metal. Emperor prioritized their riffs and melodies over the keys which makes it better imo.
I definitely prefer riffs over keyboards in general. The same thing applies to both Dimmu and Emperor.
@@RautaMetal 100% agreed!
There are a few great songs on this album, but the production kills it for me. Just compare Master of disharmony to the e.p. version. I listen to it once in a while and get medium enjoyment out of it. It didn’t stand the test of time for me.
I'm with you on this, in that I think Dimmu really came into their own later, starting with 'Deathcult Armageddon'. All of those theatrical elements that they had hinted at before coalesced into something substantial. Like black metal's (off) broadway show, or the soundtrack to a slightly more satanic version of Tim Burton's 'Nightmare...'. You did well to bring up Emperor, as their 'Anthems...' album was certainly the one to beat (& still is!), & in this Dimmu just do not compare, then or now. To be fair though, it's not every band who had a musical genius within their ranks like Emperor did.
Thanks. But I have to say that even though I don't fancy either one (Enthrone... or Anthems...) too much, I'd nowadays rather listen to Entrone than Anthems. In my books Anthems has better songs but is overall a bit weaker than Enthrone.
@@RautaMetal So 'Anthems...' is a 6/10 for you? Of course we've both probably seen Anthems top many a black metal list over the years. I'd always ranked it highly but what really catapulted it to the top tier for me was watching them play it live at a festival a few years back. There had just been a downpour & they went on with thunder & lightning in the distance behind them, & if you turned your head around, Mars was this piercing brilliance in the night sky. Perfect ambience for a band I'd never seen before & went expressly to the festival for. Dimmu I've seen once, & though I enjoyed it, the 'cheese factor' that you brought up was there in spades. Such a contrast! Both bands have been commercially successful, but one was trying to be whilst the other eventually happened to be & is now a legacy live act. Criticisms towards both abound, though for different reasons.
Anthems is solid 7/10 for me. Has like 2-3 very good songs, a couple of goodish songs and the rest is just decent at best. Would’ve been a great MCD if only best songs picked but towards the end it becomes quite dull. Something that I get by dozens these days review.
Of course a perfect live experience can make even an album better, so I get ya. I remember one particular Morbid Angel experience when it started to rain during the gig and David Vincent said something like ”Even the heaven weeps when we are on stage” and it just gave me goosebumps. So yes, a good live can definitely bring a band or an album to a next level - but also ruin it if the live is shitty, sloppy or uninterested performance.
@@RautaMetal Agreed. I'll be tuning in to your next videos where you challenge the classics.
Great!
This album is decent to listen to. It was a change to what we previously had heard from For all Tid and Stormblast at the time and for me, it's not really that special. It doesn't suck and it works in its own way. Honestly, it's complicated for me to string up the words to describe how I really feel about it but it's not terrible, just not quite there for me...
Enthroned Darkness Triumphant surprised me and everyone by saying "black metal can be this well produced and accessible". There were a few albums like this at that time, and back then I kind of liked it (a bit, I basically only listened to Mourning Palace) . It also marked the end of my interest in DB. All music genres have this "underground vs mainstream" conflict, but in the case of BM things are a bit different because at its core the genre is fundamentally anti-social, if not anti human. Black metal works with small festivals full of "toxic males", but almost by definition something has gone wrong as soon as a BM band is accepted by the mainstream music industry (including the "alternative" music industry). Obviously, it can still be good music, and be best described by the term black metal, but it is still cut off from its "source" and I tend to loose interest quickly.
Commercial black metal is kind of like the Sherlock Holmes action movies compared to the original novels and short stories: much money, much technical skill, but in the end deeply pointless and inferior to the original... EDT was better than that, but it was still far from the Dimmu Borgir that did interviews with WHEREISMYSKIN zine discussing their misanthropy.
I remain a 'For All Tid' guy (then again I'm past 40 and wearing a Spear of Longinus Nada Brahma shirt with NOM spelled out on the back, so maybe not listen to me, kids).
Aye, you're very much right about it. Now, the funny thing is: many bm people say what you just wrote. Yet still most ug bands get ignored because there's no hype for them, no talk about them etc. I see this trend clearly with my TH-cam statistics. Once a bigger band releases and album and I do a review of that: big numbers, lots of views. When I review an unknown band of similar quality, but no name or no hype, only a few views.
My point: BM ppl are essentially exactly the same as any other genre, despite what the people think or claim.
@@RautaMetal One reason could be that more people have some kind of relationship to the famous bands (at least if they are so old that we all listened to them back in the day). And don’t forget: everyone likes to complain more than say positive things about stuff. I have the Circle of Dawn albums and listen to them with more pleasure and more often than whatever the Norwegians (any of them) have put out for 15+ years. Still, if you review them I can only say ”Fuck yeah! Vittu!- Circle of Dawn!!!!!” Right or wrong, I’ll be more motivated to comment on videos about 90s bands that I loved back in the day, but now don’t really like anymore...
Also, it should be added that many mainstream BM bands actually became mainstream in the first place because they were great, it’s just that it is very difficult to maintain the ”tension” as you expand and usually they loose the edge. Doing some symphonic satanic stuff while bitching about the Christians in Northern Europe 2021 is simply very, very un-edgy (I doubt Sanna Marin or Stefan Löfven would even be slightly offended by ”fuck christianity” slogans...). Some manage it, though. Marduk, Impaled Nazarene, Horna, Burzum and so on remain full power (musically uneven, of course, but they are still the real deal, regardless of specifics).
I have a strange hope for the upcoming Darkthrone, don’t ask me why.
For me the best is In Sorte Diaboli followed by Puritanical and Death Cult. Enthrone is great, but not their best.
You should do a ranking worst to best.
After in sorte diaboli the band became quite mediocre and also death cult armagedon is an average album but I don't get all the hate about their whole carrier and this album is great by the way.
I am focusing on worst to best lists with bands that have stopped doing new music, so not time for Dimmu B yet in that series.
It's basically their 'Black Album' if you want to compare it to Metallica. It was a turning point.
I love the album, but after that the symphonic thing started to overtake the more rough edges of their sound. And I didn't like that. I tried a few albums after this but couldn't get into them and basically lost interest in the band.
Similar thing happened to Metallica for me after their Black Album.
Their black album or their De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas if you wanna think it like that.
I have a few of their albums and to be honest I don’t really know why.For all Tid is a very good piece of work ,the song stien being my favourite on that album.storm blast was ok but after that I’m really struggling to recommend a decent album other than puritanical euphoric misanthropia (only because it has nick barker on drums and a cool cover of twisted sister’s burn in hell).Last album I bought and was very disappointed was in sorte diaboli .Just over the top theatrical compositions and very weak song writing.Shagraths corpse paint is a joke too.I think they went downhill even faster when galder joined them.Apart from for all tid and maybe storm blast I can’t really say this band stands up to the likes of Limbonic art or Gehenna.I’d never call godless savage garden a classic even though I have the album.Just by the numbers mediocre Dimmu borgir.
I totally get ya. Dimmu sort of became a meme band over the years with their theatrics and different costume roleplays. While the "Mad Max look" was cool, their Narnia look was just plain ridiculous. Like said, tho, I think with Eonian they got their shit together and it sounds good.
@@RautaMetal I have listened to Eonian and it is an improvement but I just think the band has disappeared up its own rear end much like Satyricon has .They have undoubted musical talent but unfortunately for me style has overtaken substance on their part.Never been a massive fan of the whole symphonic blackmetal genre to be honest but there are band who do it better than dimmu borgir and have more of an edge to their sound like Gehenna or perhaps Arcturus.
Yep. I know what you mean. Never been a big genre for me either. I prefer my black metal more raw and or violent.
I hate this album, interesting review nonetheless.