Dimmu Borgir's new album is "meh"
I write this with great sadness seeing as how Dimmu is in a 3-way tie as my favorite band of all time. I'm sorry, the new album EONIAN just isn't very good.
i wasn't terribly impressed with the album art either
It's been 7 years since they released an album. I was expecting and hoping for more. Perhaps the creative tank is empty but I think their best work is behind them. I say this because of the 10 tracks on this album at least 6 of them are indistinguishable from one another.
For those of you unfamiliar with Dimmu Borgir they are a melodic black metal group from Norway. Prior to the album before this one they made a massive announcement that they were firing their bass player who also supplied all the clean vocals which was a big part of their act. His name was ICS Vortex and i would say that his involvement in the songs was a large part of what made the band unique.
I suspect (again this is just my opinion) that Vortex and Shagrath (the only remaining singer) butted heads and also appeared to not really even get along on stage. I think Shagrath didn't like Vortex "stealing his thunder" either.
After his departure they replaced his part of the clean vocals with guest singers on tracks and later, with a complete choir, which kind of ensures they are going to have a difficult time playing live. The last 2 live shows I saw of theirs they had a complete choir with them - which is nice but almost certainly a lot more expensive than the one dude you couldn't get along with that also played an instrument and had fantastic stage presence. I think Vortex was a ginger - so now we know why he was truly let go.
On a side note ICS Vortex has his own albums now and they are also pretty bad. I think they needed eachother.
Eonian utilizes a lot of effects and keyboards as well as a full orchestra, which stays interesting for a while but the main problem with this album is that nothing really stands out. The two videos they already made pretty much embody what the entire album sounds like and i guess if I had to choose the best song I would go with "Council of Wolves and Snakes"
a very solid tune, except for the weird tribal bits
If you actually listen to the song I want you to take notice of the guitar work. You hear how he is strumming (very fast) on a single string to set the tone of the song? That's pretty cool sounding right? I agree.
However, herein lies the problem: he does that same thing on like 6 other tracks on the same album. Furthermore, he hasn't really ever done that in albums past... it's as though he was in the studio one day and was like
ooh, this sounds pretty sweet! I'm going to do this on every single song
I don't know really what to say: It isn't St. Anger bad or anything. It's just not as special as I have come to expect from them and if you look online at reviews, even websites that routinely give high marks to pretty much everyone are giving EONIAN 3.0 / 5.0 .
I think the band's new direction isn't a good one - or at least not as good as it was before. It involves entirely too many people and while that is fun for an epic show or two (like when Metallica joined up with an orchestra for just one show) having it be what your entire band is about doesn't really work..... especially live because the guest singers are almost always not even there.
Here is a throwback to the era when Vortex was still in the band and in my opinion when Dimmu Borgir was best. Warning-there is anti-religious imagery in some of the vid clips.
some of these songs are just.... emotional
So overall, just in case you can't tell. I am disappointed in the new album after waiting 7 years for it. What a letdown.
I give EONIAN 2.5 / 5.0
What do you think? Do you agree? Disagree? Did i spell something wrong?
While Council of Wolves and Snakes is definitely miles better than the lead single, the Nightwish-sounding breakdown is extremely lame and there's just nothing in here strong enough to make me want to listen to the rest of the album.
The large and pompous sound has worked for them before, but this is just too sterile and safe for my ears.
glad someone is listening that actually knows what is going on and can act accordingly. I feel like the entire album is shite and this is just a money grab. We are going to see a money-grab tour and then a breakdown of the band... because they are no longer good.
ahhh that's too bad that the new materials are not stacking up. The Video for "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" will forever hold a special place in my terrified 11-year old memory.
we didn't even get to see it in USA because there was nudity in it. But yeah, it's pretty graphic for an 11-year old. haha
I am sadly not surprised. In my opinion, their last good album was
"Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia", from 2001 I think? They were still pretty original back then.
Some bands should just retire, or maybe start a new projekt?
I think they would have been fine if they just kept the 2 members they fired on the team. I even enjoyed Abrahadabra although the guest vocal tracks (except Gateways) kind of got on my nerves because I like ICS Vortex's vocals so much. In Sorte Diaboli (if i spelled that correctly) is my favorite album but honestly, i like all of them except for this one and Stormblast isn't that great because of low production value and most of the songs are in a language i don't understand.
Yes, never understood why they did a new recording of Stormblåst. The old one had its charm. But I can totally understand that black metal in Norwegian is pretty hard to understand, I don´t either, even though I get the language.
Have to listen on In Sorte Diaboli, maybe I like it too :)
yes. Listen to In Sorte Diaboli. after writing this article i put it back on my phone and went jogging. It is such a great album. Unless i am terribly mistaken it is the last album they had clean vocals.
They were decaying years ago, but in this time the result was completely disapointed. They were orcs, now they are elves. I can understan they want to expand their music to another public, but this is prostitution. Great post dude. I agree with you.
yep, it's pretty sad. Thanks for reading pal.
Wow interesting
Beautiful .. well done. I liked the picture
Thank you for sharing this with us
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Wow interesting
Beautiful .. well done. I liked the picture
Thank you for sharing that with us
Quite Disappointing, i mean you have to wait for 7 years to get disappoint that would really hurt, their dynamism is something to be lauded though, a metalic band that incorporates ochestra, i think what lead to their current abyss is the leaving of Vortex, his void was so feeled that they had to get vocals for his part so sad.
What i'd say is don't be bothered ao much sometimes our expectations are cut short, is nothing new, just maybe their subsequent ones may see another change in events for the better.
i like your positive outlook on life pal :)
I really do not know the Dimmu before now but I have also an experience with another familiar group. I know a group called styl-plus in my country. They were really all God’s together till some kind of things occurred between them. For me whatever happened was not worth it.
Music groups often time miss the mark and let out their strongest hold which in turn sends a strange feeling when listening to it. One is like they have lost the vibe they had that everyone liked.
This could be due to many reasons such as even jeolousy. This is my speculation as this is what happened in the case of styl-plus.
Working together make people stronger and better. Two wrongs don’t make a right
Im listening to styl-plus now. haha
Wow! Great! I really love their production. Can you believe it takes about 8 people to contribute to a particular track before the release. That’s the strength of togetherness
I know those guys, wonderful group but they are no where to be found in the country’s music industry. Separation is a b***h. It could ruin future and hopes . Destroys destiny and goals. That was How they became history
You are right. The band is going the wrong way. They need Vortex guitar skills and not cool for Vortex playing the same time for other 6 songs. Their throwback songs 7 years ago was much better. If they want to do better, they should settle their differences and come back together.
maybe it will end up being like Guns n' Roses and we have to wait 20 years for a reunion tour.
Thanks for the update on Dimmu Borgir's new album @gooddream
I don't know about their band, but I do know that some group are just meant to be together, they complement each other that you begin to think all of them are super good. Going separately like they did is one of the terrible way to get to know about their individual qualities.
Like the two of them now, they are not doing very well on their own, I think it would be better if they can just think of coming together again. I can't imagine them waiting for seven years to produce that shit
We have some groups like that in Nigeria too, a good example is psquare , in fact the two of them are twin brothers, they sing together all their lives not till until resent that they decided to go on their separate ways.
It is now obvious that one of them is a natural dancer and the other one a natural singer. Non of their album make sense again. I think they need to come together again.
Probably I have left behind my eagle eyes or you try to work against errors this time around, I couldn't pick any error.... Smile
Thanks dear friend.....
Awww, I know how this feels, when much is expected and less is given not even one’s favorite. What happened between them had broken and died so many musical groups . No guest singer could do it better . They won’t get along so well unlike someone who had been with them the whole time. I hate when such thing happens cause it might be an end to their glorious days. I don’t know this group before now but with the way you talked about them , I really feel your disappointment
yeah buddy! Well i guess we are just lucky that there are thousands of bands in the world. Time to find another!
Yeah, we are blessed with the power of choice , I imagine there are no such thing as choices. Frustration would be the ruling party. Lol when I’m a singer myself but I’m a one man band lol. If you have the taste for some African Melodious riddim, I could share you the YouTube link of my latest song which I recorded couple of days ago. All on my phone .