Review Summary: Love/hate relationship with this album.
This album is quite maligned in the metal community, solely because of the band's 'selling out' status and rock'n roll fame on MTV. That being said, how does this album fare without all the press hype and Troo Kvlt hate?
I'll first state that when I first got this album, I was totally blown away by it. It was back in 2005 when I thought that Burzum was a shirt company, Emperor was synonymous with 'Prometheus, the The Discipline of Fire and Demise' and that Anorexia Nervosa was the 'seminal' black metal band. The symphonic parts were overbearing and majestic, the riffs were br00tal, and Shagrath's scream was the cream of the crop.
I reanalyzed the CD three years later after being exposed to better bands like Drudkh, Nokturnal Mortum and Taake, and found that I still liked it. It would be best if I analyzed this song by song.
1. Allegiance: The album opens with a boring and somewhat pointless ambient buildup of winding clicks and tripod wrrrhhhs into a 1940's horror soundtrack before blasting away into a full blown onslaught of....recycled riffs and a nice orchestra? The beginning and the middle sound a lot like Dimmu Borgir's back catalogue, but I like this song solely for the hyperspeed part in the latter middle recalling a kind of jackhammer Psyopus guitar slide and the culmination of the orchestra's part. Decent song, but weighed down by recycled riffs. 3.5/5
2. The Progenies of the Great Apocalypse: THIS is where the pompous Emperor influences come in and work like a charm. The orchestra blows the listener away full force. Coupled with Vortex's voice, this will inevitably put a smile even on the tr00est of tr00s. Epic song with a nice interlude in the middle and a crushing end that shows off Mustis' keyboard shredding skills with a vengeance. If you are to hear ONE song from Dimmu Borgir, this is the song. One could even call it the band's theme song of sorts. 5/5
3. Lepers Among Us: The riffs are kind of thrashy and unique on this one. The song itself is a spastic and roaring beast, though I kind of feel the orchestra should be utilized more on this one. Strangely enough, the ending galloping beat and nauseous riffs remind me of a Lamb of God on crack, but maybe that's just me. Good song. 4/5
4. Vredesbyrd: This is translated into the Burden of Wrath, not Wrathful Birth, idiots.
With that out of the way, this is a straight on headbanger with a wall of clicking drums and a symphonic background that complements the music perfectly. The only beef I have with this song is the unoriginal riffs in the beginning middle. All in all, this is actually one of the best songs on the album. It even calls to mind a little bit of Finntroll! :/
4.5/5
5. For the World to Dicatate Our Death: This is undoubtedly one of the slowest songs on the album, and certainly one of the most minimalistic. I let a Bon Jovi fan listen to this and he said that it was 'groovy.' I'm not really sure if I should take that as a good thing or not, but this track is largely skippable. The hyperspeed parts are quite nice though.
3/5
6. Blood Hunger Doctrine: I know this song as Progenies' simpleton little brother. Nuff said. 3.5/5
7. Allehelgens Død I Helveds Rike: It's nice to see Dimmu Borgir going back to their Stormblast tradition and going with tr00 norwegian names, and this song's not too shabby either. It features the other half of Vortex's vocal contributions to this album, (which is a shame, since I listen to Dimmu these days largely for his voice.) and has some actual mutations of riffs from previous records. The orchestra will annihilate you nearing the end of the song. 4/5
8. Cataclysm Children Defined: Somehow, this reminds me of a Slipknot song from their Iowa days. The pseudo techno part in the middle-ish section of the song is quite silly- everytime I listen to it I get reminded of a monster from Scooby Doo or some other idiotic cartoon. I would give this a four point five, but the techno *** drags it down it a three.
3/5
9. Eradication Instincts Defined: Although this is supposed to be another 'epic' song, I just feel that the guitar on this one is simply obnoxious. Galder, STOP masturbating to old chromatic riffs and play something new! The orchestra in the latter part of the song is good- it features a stellar performance from Nicolas Barker, creating a thick wall of bass clicks that shakes the earth to its foundations. Points off mainly for unoriginal riffs.
4/5
10. Unorthodox Manifesto: Erm. Okay. This song is just WAY too long. It sounds like Dimmu is trying to create another Kings of the Carnival Creation, but it simply doesn't work. The song structure sounds loose and uninspired, and JUST when things start to sound like Mystic Forest or Nokturnal Mortum in the end, it ***ing fades out.
2.5/10
11. Heavenly Perverse: This is an evil and drawling song, though it sounds like Dimmu Borgir have run out of steam. It sounds like they mashed together Lepers Among us and Unorthodox Manifesto and decided to call it a day. Not to say it's a bad song by any means- it kind of sounds like Nile lite in the fast guitar masturbation part, which isn't all that bad. Passable song, but it seriously ends the album with a fade out instead of a explosion. 2.5/10
The pros of this album are as follows: Nick Barker's drumming is superb, albeit a little lacking in the arms department, the orchestra is implemented nicely, and the album gives an impression of Danny Elfman gone metal.
However, this is the point where I would like to whine about the discrepencies. Shagrath sounds like he's drowning in sludge, the orchestra is implemented rather erratically, the riffs are boring and uninspired for the most part, they don't use Vortex as much as they should, and they stopped their lyrical experimentation last seen on P.E.M.- reverting back to apocalyptic satanic crud.
I would recommend this album as a GATEWAY album. If you find this to be tr00, go kill yourself. This is simply the album to wean the Slipknot kids off of their nu metal teats. From the standpoint of just looking at it musically, it's quite nice, but it has just as many flaws. Why am I rating this a 4? It's because Dimmu have volunteered to become the 'gateway' black metal band to strip Cradle of Filth and Korn fanboys of their protective skin, allowing them to delve into heavier and better things. Dimmu Borgir did the unthinkable and brought black metal into the mainstream- which is quite a feat, considering they were an underground tr00 band nine years before. The 4 simply comes from my admiration of them as 'the starving artist that made it into the big time'. However, if this element was taken away, I would have rated the album a three. The only songs that are worth listening to on this album are Vredesbyrd, Allehelgens Død I Helveds Rike, and Progenies of the Great Apocalypse.
Verdict: Give this to a nu metal fan and watch them writhe in agony and ecstasy as they are transformed into a newbie true metalhead, but give this is a tr00 kvlt fan and watch them rip the CD in half while screaming and scrambling back into their Norwegian forests.
