This Norwegian black metal band has taken a lot of heat from hard-core black metal afficionados, who claim they've "sold out" and "gone commercial." Personally, I think they just plain suck.

"Stormblåst"

1. "Alt Lys Er Svunnet Hen" (6:07)
2. "Broderskapets Ring" (5:09)
3. "Når Sjelen Hentes Til Helvete" (4:33)
4. "Sorgens Kammer"--instrumental (6:20)
5. "Da Den Kristne Satte Livet Til" (3:08)
6. "Stormblåst" (6:16)
7. "Antikrist" (3:42)
8. "Dødsferd" (5:29)
9. "Vinder Fra En Ensom Grav" (4:28)
10. "Guds Fortapelse - Åpenbaring Av Dommedag" (4:23)

The band's second album, sung entirely in Norwegian. I sought out this one after hearing some cool mp3's ("Stormblast", "Dodsferd", "Da Den Kristen Satte Livet Til"); however, the rest of the CD was kind of a disappointment. Cool black metal music with lots of moody keyboards, but the singer's voice REALLY grates on my nerves after awhile....

"Enthrone Darkness Triumphant"

1. "Mourning Palace" (5:13)
2. "Spellbound (by the Devil)" (4:08)
3. "In Death's Embrace" (5:42)
4. "Relinquishment of Spirit and Flesh" (5:32)
5. "The Night Masquerade" (4:25)
6. "Tormentor of Christian Souls" (5:39)
7. "Entrance" (4:47)
8. "Master of Disharmony" (4:15)
9. "Prudence's Fall" (5:56)
10. "A Succubus in Rapture" (5:59)
11. "Raabjorn Speiler Draughheimens Skodde"--unlisted track (5:02)

Sounds a lot like Cradle of Filth, but not nearly as intense. One reviewer said this CD isn't very involving and becomes background music real quick, and I tend to agree with him...

"Death Cult Armageddon" (ltd. edition digipack w/ bonus track)

1. "Allegiance" (5:50)
2. "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" (5:17)
3. "Lepers Among Us" (4:44)
4. "Vredesbyrd" (4:44)
5. "For the World to Dictate Our Death" (4:46)
6. "Blood Hunger Doctrine" (4:39)
7. "Allehenges Død Helveds Rike" (5:35)
8. "Cataclysm Children" (5:15)
9. "Eradication Instincts Defined" (7:12)
10. "Unorthodox Manifesto" (8:50)
11. "Heavenly Perverse" (6:34)
12. "Satan My Master" (2:14)

After buying two ho-hum CD's and downloading a bunch of even more lackluster mp3s, I realized that Dimmu was too generic and dull a band to invest more money in, and accordingly struck them from my "need it" list. Then my brother got into the band, and started telling me how kick-ass their new album, Death Cult Armageddon, was. I smiled and patted him on the head and thought, "Aww, how sweet, when I was getting to black metal I thought Dimmu was cool, too." Then I caught their video for "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" on MTV2 and...HOLY MOTHER OF SHIT!!! They actually pulled it off!

Granted, much of the power of "Progenies" comes from the interplay with a 32-piece orchestra, and we're not talking some nameless session-based string quartet, but the Prague Philharmonic! (Well actually, I have no idea how highly the Prague Philharmonic is rated in classical circles, but they were featured in the James Bond movie The Living Daylights, so they gotta be good, right?) Indeed, the opening metal/orchestra riff is already making appearances in movie trailers, so it looks like the sound is catching on. Another key factor is the use of CLEAN vocals, supplied by the bass player...unfortunately, that's something they didn't capitalize on. But the rest of the album is surprisingly good -- even on the few tracks with minimal orchestration, like "Allegiance" and "Cataclysm Children", they come up with some heavy-duty riffs that any band would be proud to create. Yeah, there's a few blasé tracks here and there, but heck...with Dimmu Borgir, even a mediocre album should be considered a success!

I wound up getting the limited edition digipack, a cheaply made fold-out piece of shit that's already getting crinkled and falling apart...but it's got an exclusive bonus track, a cover of Bathory's "Satan My Master", so it was kind of a requirement, you see. I'm still rather peeved at the metal industry's penchant for stupid digipacks, especially ones with bonus tracks! Is it a conspiracy run by the cardboard paper companies? Probably.

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