Dimmu Borgir have been following in the footsteps of Cradle Of Filth for a number of years but all that is about to change as Cradle falter, Dimmu have not only caught up with them, they have surpassed them. In fact I would go so far as to say they have come up with a very powerful album that is up to Emperor Standard, yes that good.
Cradle put an orchestra on their last CD and Dimmu have done the same, the difference is massive, where as Cradle just augmented their sound, Dimmu Borgir have made the orchestra an integral part of the songs and they would not work if you just removed the orchestra. However that does not mean that they have dulled their Black Metal edge, oh no, it is still as sharp and as menacing as ever and although there is a strong melodic content throughout they still managed to stay on the extreme end of things, very clever and pleasing to the ear.
You only have to listen to "Lepers Among Us" and "Progenies Of The Great Apocalypse" to hear how powerful the songs are with the orchestra, if you took out the orchestral part, whole pieces of the arrangement would just disappear and the song would make no sense, how they will create this live will be interesting to say the least. Arathorn and I both agree on this one this is a brilliant Black Metal CD and should bring them wider acclaim and without alienating original fans, how clever is that. If you don’t normally like Black Metal this could change your mind, catch them on tour Oct/Nov ’03 throughout Europe.