Dimmu Borgir have continued their atmospheric and damatic take on extreme metal with “In Sorte Diaboli”, their 8^th album. Not many bands can blend music this intense with an almost operatic choral backing and neo-classical keyboards and make it work. Not only do Dimmu Borgir make this work, but they almost make the genre their own. 

Drums thunder and pound, vocals scream and howl, guitars caress and crunch in equal measure, the keyboards weave atmospheric nuances throughout and the sound effects genuinely add to the tracks to an extent that you can't imagine  the album without the dungeon chains clanking, woeful moans and flames crackling. All stirring stuff indeed. 

Dimmu Borgir also do a a good old fashioned verse/chorus/verse every now and again to great effect. “The Chosen Legacy” being built on a galloping drumbeat and a repeating guitar figure which then introduces more keyboards after the bridge. The whole album resounds with this kind of epic soundscape and, whilst it would be easy to dismiss the disc as overblown foolishness, delve deeper and In Sorte Diaboli reveals more and more on subsequent listens, showing the true craft at work here. 

Definitely an album that will appeal to fans of the likes of Norther or Children Of Bodom but also one I would venture to say that even fans of old school Celtic Frost ( circa “Into The Pandemoniun” or “To Megatherion”) would appreciate. Dimmu Borgirs' modern take on that kind of epic thrash is refreshing and appealing and it might be worth the odd Iron Maiden fan giving it a spin as well.......

Let us know your views on 'In Sorte Diaboli'

Track Listing

The Serpentine Offering
The Chosen Legacy
The Conspiracy Unfolds
The Ancestral Fever
The Sacrilegious Scorn
The Fallen Arises
The Sinister Awakening
The Fundamental Alienation
The Invaluable Darkness
The Foreshadowing Furnace

Line Up

Shagrath – Vocals
Silenoz – Guitar
Galder – Guitar
Mustis – Keyboards
ICS Vortex – Bass