What?: The ninth album from Norwegian Black Metal band Dimmu Borgir.
Why?: I heard somewhere that if I wanted to hear a good example of orchestra being used with a metal band, I should check out Dimmu Borgir. I googled and found a video from this album of the purely orchestra version of one of the tracks, and my immediate thought was "this would make a great metal song", and of course it was one, so I bought the album.
Tell me more!:
I was a bit dismissive of this after the first few listens and I quickly put it down. It wasn't dark enough for what I was interested in at the time, not brutal enough, too pop.
On this recent re-listen I thoroughly enjoyed it. Unlike the majority of "orchestra with metal" albums I've heard, it feels like the orchestra was a major instrument in the main composition, not tacked on at the end. It fits wonderfully in most of the tracks, with horns or violins or numerous other orchestral instruments filling the gaps in songs that might otherwise be filled with a guitar riff or drum fill.
The mixing is great. The orchestra is right there with the guitars. The guitar, bass and drums haven't been mixed low to leave room for the orchestra; they're all up loud where they belong.
The four or five tracks flow brilliantly. "Gateways" in particular, with Agnete Kjølsrud sharing vocals duties, is a favourite. I love the way it turns into this huge epic chorus only at the end of the track. I'm a sucker for a poppy build-up.
The album drags towards them end though. The middle to end tracks don't stick in my memory, and I actively hate the last track ("Endings and Continuations"), the vocal track (by Garm, of Arcturus, a band I've been known to like) is just awful. I even tried listening to the album from the middle but it didn't help. Great start, sliding toward a bad end. Pity.
6/10
