dimmu borgir - abrahadabra

wasn't much into this dimmu album upon time of release. back then i started to collect vinyl and was rather chasing copies of 'puritanical euphoric misanthropia' and 'death cult armageddon' on 2nd hand platforms.

when 'abrahadabra' became a thing for me, first press copies were long gone and a re-press of small quantity passed me by as well. not this time around. originally released by nuclear blast in 2010. re-issue on green vinyl by metalville. 2024.

dimmu borgir - in sorte diaboli

my latest dimmu borgir piece of music in the collection. i have the album on cd in a very nicely done special edition digipak for years now but did not make friends with it too closely. i always thought it was ok but did not live up to "puritanical euphoric misanthropia" or "death cult armageddon". i even could have easily bought a silver vinyl copy when they went on sale some years ago but made the record just minor priority and so it never came to be.

with my recent dimmu obsession in full bloom, my desire to re-visit all of their records and get physical formats of the ones i am missing grew strong. the re-issue of the record came in handy, indeed. i ordered myself a copy via emp mailorder and after i listened to "in sorte diaboli" for the first time on vinyl, i scratched my head and wondered why i thought the album was just ok. you ever experienced that an album sounds better just because you listened to it via a superior format? well, i definitely did so here.

"in sorte diaboli" has been a permanent guest on my turntable since i recieved my copy. it is such a vital and dynamic album that should conjure a smile on the face of any fan of the post millenium dimmu era. the lyrical concept of a priest's assistant and his fall from grace to eventually become the anti-christ is just the icing on the cake. this pressing on clear green vinyl inside a gatefold sleeve with booklet is fantastic as well. there is just one little complaint, though. the inside of the gatefold is the same as the last double page of the booklet, only upside down. if that was really planned that way? anyway, 300 copies made. nuclear blast. 2007/2018.

dimmu borgir - stormblåst (tape)

this year has been rich in dimmu borgir records already and after i saw them live at wacken open air in august, i am a bit on a dimmu kick. so when nuclear blast put up a tape version of the band's second full length in their store, i didn't think twice and ordered a copy. as i wasn't familiar with this record whatsoever, i informed myself and found out that i just bought a re-recording of the album. dimmu released "stormblåst" in 1996 via cacophonous records. it was recorded at endless sound production and due to a tight schedule the band had to make compromises concerning the sound.

obviously this was bugging leading band members shagrath and silenoz that much, that they were losing their sleep over this. in 2005 they decided to re-record the whole affair in the way they originally wanted it to sound. they entered abyss studios in sweden and settled this once and for all. among fans of dimmu's early days, the re-recording is like a red rag to a bull. the band felt the need to justify for "stormblåst MMV" right from the beginning, so there is even an explanation in the booklet.

that doesn't concern me to be honest. i think the record is quite good. it is way more forceful than i had anticipated. the production doesn't seem too clear to my ears but i experienced that quite often with abyss studio productions. not really my taste in most cases. the tape is pro-made and looks and sounds well from front to back. 100 copies made with the light grey shell. nuclear blast. oldschool records. 2018.

dimmu borgir - eonian

dimmu borgir got a lot of playtime on my turntable recently. mainly because of nuclear blasts industrious policy of re-pressing titles of the borgir back catalogue to commemorate the new album "eonian". with me, this tactic worked nicely in throwing money at the re-presses but failed to buy a copy of the actual purpose - dimmu's ninth full length after eight years of waiting. i finally came to terms and bought a copy after i was refunded by the label in the first place for a u.s. version which seemed to be already sold out when i ordered.

some weeks later, after i swallowed my anger, i made a move and reached out for the half and half coloured european edition. i was anxious to get a copy now because i am going to see the band play live for the first time at this year's wacken festival and thus wanted to hear the material before they played it live. well, what does the new album sound like? previously i read a few devastating reviews which opinions i definitely cannot share. there is a change in their overall sound, indeed. more industrial influences, a little less orchestration and way more choirs.

the first single "interdimensional summit" gives a good insight on the whole album, i think. for me the record needed a few spins to fully sink in. it won't become my favourite record of them but hell, it's an entertaining listen. the band saved the best songs for last and with the fantastic "i am sovereign" begins the strong last third of "eonian". the presentation is in no way inferior to the music. nice slip sleeve with reflecting golden ink, a superb 28-page booklet and slick looking black and white split vinyl. 700 copies made. nuclear blast. 2018.

dimmu borgir - godless savage garden

in eager anticipation of this year's dimmu borgir live set at wacken festival, i thankfully took the opportunity to grab some re-issues of older dimmu records nuclear blast produced in respect of the band's new album "eonian". still nb did not re-issue the "godless savage garden" e.p. which came out in 1998, in between "enthrone darkness triumphant" and "spiritual black dimensions". it served as a little appetiser and to bridge the wait for "spiritual...".

two new and exclusive songs found their way onto this release. "moonchild domain" and "chaos without prophecy" are two strong efforts and typical for the late nineties era dimmu borgir. heavy song-writing taking the best of black and death metal combined with epic keyboard arrangements. two re-recorded songs of the first full length "for all tid" round out the a-side. the b-side consists of an accept cover song ("metal heart") and three live recordings. solid e.p. in my book.

i snagged a copy of the back on black re-press from 2008 on ebay. back on black did a full re-press of the dimmu back catalogue to that point ten years ago and i think the whole run is pretty decent. no difference here. sturdy gatefold with nice clear with blue splatter vinyl. unfortunately the seller sent the record not removed from the cover sleeve, even though i requested it (idiot!). split on the top seam was the result. fixed it the best i could. anyway, love the drawn artwork in particular. back on black. 2008.

dimmu borgir - spritual black dimensions

back in 2002/2003 i was listening a lot to dimmu borgir's records "death cult armageddon" and especially "puritanical euphoric misanthropia". i was absolutely mesmerised by the heaviness and dark, mythical atmosphere the band created on those two albums. those two records are still my favourites of dimmu. back then i wanted to dive further into the band's discography and bought a digipak cd copy of "spiritual black dimensions" from 1999.

this album was just released before those two masterpieces i hold so dear. back then it could not really convince me. "spiritual black dimensions" just felt not as technical as the two successors and i think this had a lot to do with nicholas barker not playing drums on this album. his drum play is so energetic, precise and this sort of rhythm is missing on "spiritual...". given the fact that i broadened my musical horizon in the last years and nuclear blast announced a re-issue, i wanted to give the record another chance.

i ordered the mint green version which sold out in pre-order stage. naturally i was excited when nuclear blast sent shipping notification with a tracking number. i checked back every day and after five days with zero progress, i started asking questions. the end result was that the parcel was declared lost. oh man, this can't be true. after my the faceless record this was #2 which got lost in the mail. only this time nb ran out of mint green copies. fortunately they did another re-press on white vinyl, so the label sent me that one and a bonus on future orders instead.

wait, white vinyl? well, another surprise. the pressing plant made a mistake and pressed clear instead of white. so in my opinion clear vinyl is the most boring colour right behind metallic gold and silver. yeah, one of these days... anyway, musically "spiritual black dimensions" has aged pretty good. bombastic, symphonic black metal. theatrical and elaborate - dimmu knows how to write intense music. that reminds me that i still need a copy of the latest record "eonian". 300 copies made. nuclear blast records. 1999/2018.

dimmu borgir - enthrone darkness triumphant

actually i wanted to get this post done in 2017 but life got in the way. so this is my first post in the new year of 2018. i don't produce any end-of-year posts because i am too lazy but i love to read about the statistics of fellow bloggers. if i was writing down some stats then one fact would be pretty prominent. over sixty percent of all my purchase in 2017 have been re-presses and re-issues.

there is a huge retro wave swapping over the vinyl land and therefore it seemed to be apt to start the year with a re-issue. i am very fond of retro stuff myself recently and thus was very interested when i saw pre-orders for the third dimmu borgir full length at nuclear blast. when i started to listen to some serious metal in the early 00's i had a few dimmu borgir cd's, including "spiritual black dimensions", "puritanical euphoric misanthropia" and "death cult armageddon".

at the time "spiritual black dimensions" was always the one i liked the least and that was why i never pursued the purchase of the predecessor "enthrone darkness triumphant". but right now i am just in the mood for this kind of throwback music. a thing which was helpful for my decision was the nice booklet included in this twenty year anniversary set.

musically this third full length was a novum in dimmu's discography by being the first one to be sung completely in english. this opened doors for a wider audience and more commercial success. therefore the original press is pretty pricey to come by. this new pressing looks lovely and was reasonable priced. nice gatefold, fantastic booklet and matching dark green vinyl. 300 copies made. nuclear blast. 1997/2017.

dimmu borgir - death cult armageddon

i still have a bunch of albums which i bought on cd first and now crave to get the vinyl versions of. some were easy and cheap to come by, whereas some prove to be quite difficult to obtain. one album that falls into the latter category is dimmu borgir's sixth full length album called 'death cult armageddon'. like with cradle of filth, i have a soft spot in my heart for these black metal weirdos from norway. at least for a limited number of their releases.

i just love this dark and gloomy atmosphere which they are able to create inside their fast death metal framework. i remember i was buying the cd digipak version off ebay in 2003 or something. boy, that's over twelve years ago by now. anyway, let's not start to walk down memory lane and sound like an old man. back to the music. check out 'lepers among us' and 'cataclysm children'. two strong efforts of this record.

for 'death cult armageddon' the band teamed up with the prague philharmonic orchestra to give the keyboard/classic elements more depth. it sounds even more powerful than 'puritanical euphoric misanthropia' which had a few orchestral parts played by the gothenburg opera orchestra. it is also the last album to feature nicholas barker on drums. man, i loved his work on 'puritanical...' and he's great on here, too.

after his departure they lost energy on the drum set. a shame. to me he is one of that drummers that make a good record a great record. well, nuclear blast did a vinyl pressing in 2003 on black vinyl as far as i know. five years after the release u.k.'s back on black label did a re-press on lovely 180g clear with blue splatter re-press. finally discogs helped me out with a copy. good looking bastard! back on black. 2008. 

dimmu borgir - puritanical euphoric misanthropia

after i was introduced into hardcore music with nyhc classics through my uncle, i started my own expeditions into the world of electronic guitar-heavy music. in my very early teens i was listening to the new metal wave. korn, coal chamber and the like. with seventeen or eighteen i returned to harder stuff. it started with cradle of filth's "damnation & a day". soon after that i found myself obsessed with this metal mish mash mixed with a dark and menacing touch to it. next to cradle of filth there is only one band that plays this style equally as good - dimmu borgir. and my first record i brought into my possession was "puritanical euphoric misanthropia". boy, what a title.

at first i had the regular cd version but soon after i played it to death, i knew i had to have something cooler looking. i had been a collector of nice music related items ever since, so i scored the cd box-set on ebay which i still have. now that i'm always on the hunt for records that i loved and missed in the first place, "puritanical" was pretty high on the list. nuclear blast did a purple version when this record was initially released in 2002, but looked kind of boring. i discovered that back on black pressed a splatter vinyl version in 2008. that should be more of my taste. problem with it was, it never appeared on ebay neither did it on discogs. and after waiting pissed me off, i did what i did a couple of times in the past. annoying people with e-mails over at dead format. among others was this decent guy named justin.

after exchanging some mails over a quite long period of time, because of justin's involvement in other matters requiring his attention, we struck a deal. i checked popsike and thought my offer was decent enough and because of taking so much time, justin even allowed me a little discount on shipping. thanks again, man! after only one week the record lay at my door. i was finally able to drop the needle on it. and boy, this cracker aged damn well.

songs like "blessings upon the throne of tyranny" or "kings of the carnival creation" are as strong as i had them in mind and simply death metal perfection. together with those dark keyboards and well placed strings, these songs are audio delicacies to my ears. even songs which were the weaker ones of the album ("maelstrom mephisto", "absolute sole right"), getting better and better now. the sound is super tight and nick barker's drumming is outstanding. after gripping relentlessly for ten songs, the record releases you with this sublime outro called "perfection or vanity". what a trip. don't know how many copies were made. nuclear blast/back on black. 2002/2008. 

by the way, germany against ghana ended in a draw. that looked exhausting but still on champions course. vorwärts, deutschland!