After the EP "Teach Children how to Worship Satan" in the last year, Dark Funeral are back, this time with a full-length album - Diabolis Interium.Vobiscum Satanas was released in 1998 and was considered by many the most brutal Blackmetal album ever, after such a fast and powerful release everyone thought that Dark Funeral would follow a more technical and "slow" approach for the following records, but that didn't happened, this album is even faster and brutal than the previous Dark Funeral releases.
Their sound is still quite the same has it was on the previous releases, the better way to describe the sound for this new record is a combination between "Vobiscum Satanas" and "The Secrets of the Black Arts". This similarity with the other albums is bad in one hand, but good in another. The good part is that they don't let their sound go "softer" as many of the bands nowadays, but the bad part is the almost inexistent evolution. But in my opinion the good part overcomes the bad part, because it's not common nowadays to see a band that stays faithful to its roots and don't follows any trend!
This third "Satanic Symphony" is the most complex Dark Funeral album to date, they improved a little bit technically, but where you can see the biggest evolution is in the composition of the songs, much more professional now.
If you don't have the previous Dark Funeral albums run to the nearest store and buy this album immediately, but if you have the previous albums I still recommend this album, but in a less emphasizing way.
After
the very well received debut album "The Secrets of the Black Arts"
here is the second album from this Swedish Blackmetal band.
Everyone
inside the portuguese metal scene must know this band that already counts with
10 years of existence. First they were called Decay, but some time later decided
to add "ed" to their moniker. This was the band's fourth album, with
more covers than originals. Anyway, this trio was and will always be influenced
by the almighty Bathory and Venom, they're one of the few Lusitanian bands that
are still into old-fashioned Black metal just like it was made back in the
glorious 80's. They've always used a drum machine and in my opinion that's their
only "disadvantage", because there's no proper cymbals and toms
sound...even the breaks are a bit defective. Anyway, and concerning this
album...the influences - both ideologically and musically - are the same (Venom
and Bathory), the songs once again alternate between fast and mid-paced rhythms,
with some good solos throughout them. About the covers featured, they're from
bands such as Celtic Frost, Bathory, Sodom, Death, Venom, etc (what were you
expecting?); but the most surprising one is from George Thorogood (all the band
members are still into rock'n roll, that's the reason). As J.A (guitar) said,
the inclusion of all these covers was a small tribute to the 80's and the
influence this decade had on the band.
By
the time this album was released Dimmu Borgir were already reasonably known, but
this was their great breakthrough. This was one of the first albums to be
recorded in the Abyss Studios, produced by the well-known Peter Tagtgren, and it
sure brought great feedback to the owner of the studio - the production is
excellent, all instruments are very audible and form together a great mix. It
all begins with "mourning palace", to many the most atmospheric song
ever recorded by the band, and indeed a very good song; by listening to it you
can guess how the rest of the album is: very commercial (I'm not saying this in
a bad way, but it is WAY different from the raw black metal stuff (darkthrone,
burzum...)), aggressive vocals, "evil" lyrics, basic guitar chords
performed under more or less complex leads, epic synthesizers, not bad drums...
Some songs are more aggressive than others (listen to "tormentor of
christian souls", for the best brutal song of the album), but they're
generally in the same wave. This is a very competent band, and with a great
future, for they are very young, but this isn't a classic album. I mean, it is a
very easy-listening one, it will surely sell shitloads, and it has got very
memorable moments, like the 2 songs I mentioned above, but that doesn't mean it
is extraordinary stuff. Everybody knows an album doesn't have to be extremely
good to sell well. This one here puts Dimmu Borgir in the 1st division of the
Black Metal squad, but there are bands (like Emperor, for example), which are
still much better, although being less easy to listen to.
One
of the most commercially successful "extreme" metal bands in the world
is back, with "spiritual black dimensions". Many expectation were set
after "enthrone darkness triumphant" - would Dimmu Borgir become
sell-outs, would their next album have a totally different approach, this time
only towards money-making? No. Well, "spiritual black dimensions" is
very accessible, more than many would like a black metal record to be, but don't
get fooled, this is good stuff. This is Dimmu Borgir's most varied album: the
songs here range from the unbelievably epic and majestic ("the insight and
the catharsis", for ex.) to the very quick and brutal (the beginning of
"united in unhallowed grace", for ex.), always in the famous Dimmu
Borgir style. But most of the album is submersed not in a brutal, but in a
majestic aura. Such is helped out by the new members - Astennu, a fantastic lead
player who created outstanding melodies, giving dimmu a new characteristic that
so many bands lack - technical excellence; Simen Hestnes, from Borknagar, that
with his highly skilled clean vocals managed to proportionate great epic moments
to the album; Mustis, a young talented keyboard player, that without being the
greatest genius in the world managed to create great keyboard lines for the
album. Speaking of vocals, Shagrath proves once again that he is one of the best
vocalists out there, with a very aggressive and solid voice; the lyrics are in
the same way, more abstract now. About the rhythm base of the band - Silenoz
continues to deliver fierce rhythms, now better than ever, always in the vein
that made Dimmu famous; a slight remark goes to the drums - Tjodalv is a good
drummer, but he is miles away from the genre leaders, like Hellhammer for
example (Mayhem's drummer even used to give lessons to him, so you can see...).
This album, which is dimmu's most complex (and to many the band's best) will
sell a lot, everybody knows that. But that doesn't mean it is bad. However, if
you are one of those "true" black metal fans, I guess you will curse
this album and the whole band; don't know what you're loosing :)
Many
expectations where in the air about this new album, because people wanted to
know how would Dimmu Borgir react to the absence of Astennu, their previous and
mythic lead guitarist, and to the "acquisition" of the new drummer –
Nick Barker (ex-Cradle of Filth).
First
release of the well known Norwegian Dimmu Borgir...a highly melodic and
atmospheric album, the beginning of their well succeeded career. Nuclear Blast
was the responsible for this re-release, now with 2 tracks from the band's first
demo (wich I still never had the chance to hear). The structure of the songs
here featured is quite simple, can be described as a reasonable combination
between the [also] very simple guitar riffing, mid-paced drumming and some
mesmerizing atmospheric parts. About the production of this album, it is quite
defective: the guitars' sound seems very distant and sometimes it can't be very
well distinguished and the keyboards perform here a very important role
therefore they muffle the guitars (wich is something I just abominate
meaningfully). About Shagrath's vocals, they're typically harsh (with some
screams through the middle) and very reverbed. All the song's lyrics are written
in Norwegian, wich for me is symonimous of "I can't understand a shit of
what he's saying". Nice cover artwork
After
"The Somberlain" here is the second album from this Swedish band. And
what an album this is! I think that they've had a great evolution since
"The Somberlain", because everything here is much superior to their
debut album. Starting by the technical work allied with the very good production
that allows us to distinguish some great technical details, specially in the
drums part.