After Cradle of Filth's Midian totally blew my mind, Dimmu Borgir was only a stone's throw away. Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir are probably two of the most disputed black metal bands, dismissed and scorned by die-hard black metal fans and vastly successful with the general public.
Dimmu Borgir was formed in 1993 by Silenoz (lead vocals, rhythm guitar) and Tjodalv (lead guitar). Shagrath (then on drums) joined the band soon after in 1994 together with Brynyard Tristan (bass) and Stian Aarstad (keyboards). From the inital line-up Silenoz and Shagrath are still part of the band today. For their third studio album Enthrone Darkness Triumphant (EDT) Shagrath had moved to cover lead vocals and lead guitar and Tjodalv was now playing drums. Silenoz was still on rhythm guitar, Stian Aarstad on keyboards, and new band member Nagash had relieved Brynyard Tristan on bass.
Enthrone Darkness Triumphant was released in 1997 through Nuclear Blast. It was Dimmu Borgir's first album with English lyrics and their breakthrough album, propelling black metal in the world of mainstream, making it accessable with symphonic and orchestral sounds . Many true black metal fans call Dimmu Borgir's music pop metal. While their first two albums For All Tid (1994) and Stormblåst (1996) were still considered to be black metal albums (although melodic black metal), with EDT the band was said to have sold out. Too many melodies, too much keyboard, too much synthesizer, too many power chords, too many palm-muted death/thrash riffs, too focused on rhythm.
Let's listen to the opener of EDT, probably Dimmu Borgir's biggest hit to this day and my absolute favourite on this album: Mourning Palace.
I love EVERYTHING about this song. It is bombastic, it is melodic, it has been stuck in my head for days now. The growl at the beginning, the insanely catchy melodic scale played by the keyboard, the trashing guitars in the middle, the orchestra, the blastbeats, the choir - it works so well together, creating an atmosphere of exuberance and greatness.
There are songs on EDT that focus heavily on melodies, harmonies, atmospheric synthesizer strings and keyboard scales. And then there are also songs in between that are heavier with more black metal shredding like Relinguishment of Spirit and Flesh, Tormentor of Christian Souls or Master of Disharmony.
While Mourning Palace is my absolute favourite on this album, further highlights for me are Spellbound (By the Devil) which incorporates a lot of choir and church organ sounds and focuses on atmosphere; In Death's Embrace with a clever progression from fast and thrashy to slow and melodic back to fast again in the end; And Prudence's Fall with the stomping rhythm and the catchy melodies.
Many consider Enthrone Darkness Triumphant to be Dimmu Borgir's best album and the last album to be taken seriously before their work became unlistenable. Well, I cannot comment on that because I haven't heard anything from later years yet, but I will definintely give it a go. Like Midian from Cradle of Filth Enthrone Darkness Triumphant has left me with melodies in my heart and songs in my head that I absolutely celebrate. Big <3
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