DIMMU BORGIR – In Sorte Diaboli
 
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release: April 27  2007
By: Psycho
Rating: 8/10
Time: 53:11
Style: Black Metal
URL: Dimmu Borgir
 

On their newest record In Sorte Diaboli Norwegian Black Metal export hit have surprisingly build in a few deficiencies.

Let me mention first the music. Of course you get everything offered DIMMU BORGIR are known for and you can expect from them, but unfortunately nothing more. Innovation or something new one will seek for unavailingly. Instead on the nine tracks of the regular version DIMMU BORGIR go over known issues, especially terrain one might know from the predecessor Death Cult Armageddon. No wonder that first single The Serpentine Offering strongly reminds of Progenies Of The Great Apocalypse, first single of the last album. This kind of Déjà vu effects happen frequently.
Well, if doing so, then I at least expect and miss tracks like the fucking cool Eradiction Instincts Defined and Unorthodox Manifesto. Songs that stand out of the rest of the band’s material and let you push the repeat-button. It also did not last for an orchestra so that DIMMU BORGIR had to fall back on Mr. Computer. Ok, with the technical possibilities nowadays people might not even notice about that. And maybe it was even intended to move back the (symphonic) bombast parts.

What I absolutely cannot understand is, what the band might have thought about their release policy regarding the bonus tracks. The regular version of In Sorte Diaboli hardly runs 40 minutes. The limited edition offers one song more and another one can be found on the limited book edition, reaching a running time of 53 minutes then. As if that is not weird enough, these both bonus tracks emerges as the best ones on the album, offering exactly that, what the rest is essentially lacking of. Is In Sorte Diaboli lacking of variety, these both songs offer everything is this matter. If the regular songs just offer known DIMMU BORGIR standards, The Ancestral Fever sounds like a morphed bastard of a Satyricon/Volcano song, while The Heretic Hammer owns the greatest riffing of the entire album and provides the speed many have achingly missed so far. Consequently these both bonus tracks especially caught me attention during the first runs. I wonder about, if that is the meaning of a bonus track?
From the regular tracks at least The Sacrilegious Scorn, The Fundamental Alienation and The Conspiracy Unfolds know how to please. They in fact range in a familiar scope but offer great refrains and coherent arrangements. And the three times where TCS Vortex sings with his clean voice are always highlights.

Despite all criticism let me explain why I rated with 8 points though, because one thing is clear: the level of quality is constantly high, there is absolutely no bummer on In Sorte Diaboli, something that’s rare nowadays. And you can only review what is available, meaning, in a fit of a mental derangement I bought me the shockingly expensive book edition. And this one just looks great! Noble leather cover, thick and old looking paper and fantastic graphics. That’s why In Sorte Diaboli rated higher as most of my writing colleagues did.
And besides, now the much criticized mirror makes sense, not for care of one's face but to read the in a da Vinci-style penned lyrics. On the backside an alternative cover is available, so this book is looking great in your CD shelf too ;)
The bonus DVD contains the well-done video to The Serpentine Offering and informative material about the making-of and a pictures gallery I find unnecessary. There is also a multi-media part on this DVD but I did not install this one.

At the end I don’t want to dissemble that I would have rated with at least one point less on the regular version, which is definitely not enough with the possibilities and skills of a band like DIMMU BORGIR. It might be due to the fact that In Sorte Diaboli is a concept album (medieval priest loses faith and discovers the dark side of power for himself *lol*), where the music fell a little bit short. I really don’t know. On the other hand, expectations on a band like DIMMU BORGIR are always high and difficult to match at very time.
Generally speaking In Sorte Diaboli is a well-done record but I think they could have brought out much more.