DIMMU BORGIR : ABRAHADABRA
Nuclear Blast
The way I see it from where I am currently standing, the Dimmu Borgir crew have been creating art for twenty years and have got better and better. Just to clarify, an artist sells records and has influence upon people for a reason – they’re especially good at what they do. They’ve worked at it for a very long time. It’s simple: if they didn’t, the artist wouldn’t be signed to one of the most biggest innovative record labels in the metal industry, touring worldwide and wouldn’t be selling records in the first place. FACT. The proof that they’ve made it twenty years down the line, becoming more advanced and stronger both musically and business alike – really, it does speak a thousand words. The artist is simply getting better with each record they sell. And no matter who you are or what music genre you play, you’re always going to have interest lost from one movement, but at the same time gain others’ interest from another - that’s just the way art goes, regardless whether you’re painting portraits confined in the depths of the dining room upon that same pine easel, or sitting upon the moving tour bus filled with whisky and narcotics, experimenting with riffs on an acoustic guitar after your set. At the end of the day, it becomes a business as well as artistic outlet. In the words of Andy Warhol himself, “Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art.”
“In Sorte Diaboli”, marked majestic success and achievement to Dimmu Borgir’s career with mystical and enchantingly dark symphony that blew fans away. But this time round, this piece of art resembles the grandest of grand-masters within the Black metal movement.
Dimmu Borgir are back. More advanced, more focussed and as epic and bombastic as they have ever been. It takes patience. Dimmu are certainly a pioneering band beckoning from Norway, taking the Black Metal genre to heightening new levels with an arsenal of symphony orchestrations and astonishing artistic mindset. As a fan of Dimmu Borgir and as listeners, we have positively been ‘musically-spoilt’ for the want of a better term – by this I mean Dimmu have given us the very best of sound production, sincere deliverance of monumentous musicianship and of course the most captivating musical and visual atmospheres from live performances and supremely theatrical music videos.
“Abrahadabra”, explores music and art to a tremendous new level. The ‘Kringkastingsorkesteret’ – norwegian radio symphony orchestra and ‘Schola Cantorum’ coalesce together perfectly with the original members respectively known as Shagrath, Silenoz and Galder; collaboratively creating the signature sound that is Dimmu Borgir. Never have I ever before heard a group of musicians so beautifully tight in time and place, so precise and as sharp exceeding conception. The music speaks its own language and integrates profound professionalism and artistic expertise which is administered by the virtue of jaw-dropping, intricate technique and spectacular off-kilter time signature masterpieces. Yet, “Abrahadabra” exhales this supreme, cool sophistication – this is the evidence of being exceptionally brilliant at what they do. “Endings and Continuations” is the theme portrait of Borgir – in that they are bold, certainly not afraid – they are an emblem for embracing the brave new world, whilst the prepossessingly titled “A Jewel Traced Through Coal”, is my personal highlight of the entire album – an extraordinary example of craftsmanship and visionary investigation within the boundaries of engaging orchestral flame and Black Metal intensity. I am literally stunned for words – in a somewhat collective manner all I can say is listen to it yourselves and I can only hope you hear, feel and see what I do. I can only advise – expect the unexpected; for this has potential to be one of the biggest, most important Dimmu Borgir albums of all.
100/100
SAGE CHARLES
(Nuclear Blast? Really? Ok… only because you expressed it so beautifully – Ed)
