Dimmu Borgir return after eight years with “Grand Serpent Rising”, their tenth album of new material, released on May 22 via Nuclear Blast Records. The Norwegian titans of symphonic black metal return with a 70-minute record that producer Fredrik Nordström describes as their best to date.
Country: Norway
Genre: Black Metal
For fans of: Venom, Bathory, Emperor
The return
Silenoz and Shagrath bring back all the band’s chaos and thunder, but this time the sonic excess is balanced by a new earthy dimension and the determination to cement a massive legacy. With less reliance on orchestral excess and the peripheral tricks of previous records, “Grand Serpent Rising” works as a partial reset, a redefinition of the ornate grandeur that made Dimmu Borgir beloved of the underground scene for thirty years.
The listen
After the haunted intro “Tridentium”, “Ascent” erupts like a supernatural fanfare, with cutting riffs and thick clouds of gothic atmosphere. The band’s classic, demonic themes are as strong as ever, but there’s a rawness in the guitars that in the past was buried under a torrent of keyboards — the sounds and textures of the solos lean heavily on the aesthetics of the 1980s.
There are solid, beautifully structured tracks like “As Seen in the Unseen” and “At the Precipice of Convergence”, with sharp hooks amid demonic atmospheres. There are big, imposing epics like “The Qryptfarer” and “The Exonerated”. “Ulvgjeld & Blodsodel” stands out as the main single, while “Phantom of the Nemesis” is the album’s peak: one of the few tracks that uses the orchestral elements as a core ingredient, with a wonderfully chilling orchestration.
The vocals play a leading role with many variations — something black metal bands generally don’t rely on — while a cinematic mood runs through the whole record. Silenoz’s two statements speak for themselves: “Haste means nothing to us” and “we walk our own dark paths regardless of everything” — and the result justifies both.
Tracklist
1. Tridentium
2. Ascent
3. As Seen in the Unseen
4. The Qryptfarer
5. Ulvgjeld & Blodsodel
6. Repository of Divine Transmutation
7. Slik Minnes en Alkymist
8. Phantom of the Nemesis
9. The Exonerated
10. Recognizant
11. At the Precipice of Convergence
12. Shadows of a Thousand Perceptions
13. Gjǫl
See also
Οι Dimmu Borgir κυκλοφορούν το δεύτερο single «Ascent» · Behemoth – I, Scvlptor
