Disco de Dimmu Borgir: “Enthrone Darkness Triumphant [Candlelight Limited Edition]”

Despite the line-up changes which occured after this album and can be deemed nothing else except improvements, this remains my favorite Dimmu release yet. The album has the atmosphere of Stormblast but with better production and all English lyrics except for one of my favorites on the CD; Raabjørn Speiler Draugheimens Skodde, which is the unlisted track 11. The production is also in my opinion much better than the later Spiritual Black Dimensions, while not too polished and overdone.

The CD is full of Dimmu classics from Mourning Palace, Spellbound, In Deaths Embrace to Tormentor of Christian Souls and A Succubus in Rapture. The atmosphere of the CD is killer, with the melodic riffing and some of the best keyboard work of it's kind done by former keyboardist Stian Aarstad.

Known for being one of those black metal bands that will not blast beat you into the ground, Dimmu Borgir shows their range on this album, going from brutal to melodic and back while not skipping a beat. Defintely a classic not only in the black metal genre but in any musical genre.....

Dimmu Borgir's third album, "Enthrone Darkness Triumphant," was their first album to feature keyboards. And while this record was coincidently the group's breakthrough, it also brought on legions of haters who claimed Dimmu "sold out." But the truth about "Enthrone Darkness Triumphant" is that it's a great black metal album (one of the genre's high points), and also one of Dimmu's most creative releases. The use of Stian's keyboards don't detract from the songs' heaviness, but it does add more depth and atmosphere to the music, making the songs sound fuller and richer. Plus, the use of (what sounds like) a choir, orchestra, and violins adds some extra ear candy and helps a couple of the songs to be quite pretty. But, that's not to give you the wrong impression, because the guitars and drums are still brutal. So, the final result is an album which is quite heavy but also pretty. There are some songs (like the fiery "Mourning Palace") that are just brutal, but most of these songs mix melody with metal. For example, see "In Death's Embrace," which augments piano keys with rapid-fire riffs, and "Entrance" and "A Succubus In Rapture," which are backed by both creepy, chilling piano keys and scorching buzzsaw riffs. Also, the bonus track ("Raabjorn Speiler Draugheimens Skodde") begins with some choir singing and melodic, almost aquatic instruments before launching into a blistering barrage of power chords and stomping drums. The last two highlights are "The Night Masquerade" and "Master Of Disharmony." Both of these songs could have been lifted from a 1349 or Dark Funeral demo, because they both feature walls of searing guitars, jackhammer drums, and high-pitched, skin crawling shrieks.

If you're looking for melody-deficient black metal, pick up some Mayhem or one of Dimmu's first discs. But if you want a true symphonic black metal album which successfully incorporates beautiful parts with brutal ones, start here.

Great music, the lyrics on the other hand aren't so good. Lyrically these boys are trying WAY too hard to be evil and have crossed the line into the world of lyrical irrelevance. Call me crazy but these songs about Satan just chap my ass. There's little or no poetry or art to their lyrics. And unlike other black metal bands like Darkthrone, Emperor or especially Burzum, the music just doesn't fit the lyrical content. I get the idea that they're praising satan not because they actually believe anthing, but for shock value. And hey if you play black metal you're supposed to sing about satan, how tired. At least when Slayer sings Lucifer's praises they sound convincing.

OK that said, the music on Enthrone Darkness Triumphant absolutely rocks. Its much better than the slight lyrics. Good use of keyboards, which I usually am suspicious of in metal, coupled with aggressive guitar and dynamic song writing. Every song has memorable and oftimes insane riffs and melodies. This is some harmonically interesting and diverse music. There's dissonance, consonance and dynamic tension to be found in every song. "Spellbound by the Devil" (oh crap, more satan) has an excellent use of mournful yet epic keyboards ranging in sound from pipe organ to sampled chorus. There are lots of stops and starts and complex yet engaging shifts in tempo and mood, all in one song.

Dimmu Borgir write some very compelling, dark and yet beautiful music that can really take you out of yourself. I'm not a big fan of symphonic black metal but this is certainly one of the most interesting metal releases of 1997 and well worth getting. Just ditch the satan cliches next time OK?

though I did not know of this music back than. I once listened to mainstream(and I use the term seriously here) metal like Tool, Godsmack, and Rammstein until I heard black metal on a college station while I was channel-flipping. I did not buy the CD right away but when I did my love for the mainstream bands went down the toilet.

Listening to this album only reinforces that statement. It lets the keyboards shine without taking over the band the way Mystic Circle does. I do wish that the keyboards did not take those multi-measure rests, but that does happen in alot of bands. A song like Mourning Palace or In Death's Embrace could make one shiver if listened to in the dark, and while IDE does not sound as good live, Mourning Palace and Entrance sound just as good, if not better. Tracks 4 and 6 are a demonstration of a more raw black metal sound with death metal influences. I do think that the satanic stuff is idiotic and rather conformist when taken into account how many bands use it, and it may be a put-off to some one wanting to try the music because the satan stuff is presented in a zealous tone, but this should NEVER prevent someone from getting into a genre of music that needs only one strong track to put everthing from several mainstream bands to shame.

Now why has DB been rejected by the black metal "truesomes"? This is black metal and it won't be gong mainstream at all. Too many people would say stuff like "this band (stinks) thay can't sing" and would never want to hear them. The vast majority of music listeners don't want monotonal rasps or to get hit over the head with satanic propaganda, so DB would not sell on a commercial level even if they did get commercial level attention.

Now if you like this group, you should also try Children of Bodom, Death, Amon Amarth, God Dethroned, Cradle Of Filth, Dark Tranquillity, Soilwork, Sigh, Old Man's Child, and Gehenna.

Enthroned Darkness Triumphant is Dimmu Borgir showing off their Wagnerian bombastic version of symphonic extreme metal in top form. The band sounds their most ferocious and inspired on this album, and songs like "Spellbound (By The Devil)" show their heavy-metal songwriting sensibilities. This band is blasted as being "not black metal" because they incorporate more traditional verse/chorus/verse elements, but this is where Dimmu Borgir truly shine, as with fellow Scandinavian terrors Immortal (and to a far, far, far lesser extent, Cradle Of Filth), that is to say, they excel at throwing a fresh coat of ice-cold blood and corpsepaint on rock & roll, rather than (re)creating the grim sonicscapes of real black metal bands.