Dimmu Borgir
Death Cult Armageddon
Nuclear Blast
Continuing musically where
Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia left off, this one surpasses all expectations. With the addition of the Prague Symphonic Orchestra, the songs take on a more grandeur stature. The backing orchestra is not overused, and when it is used, it only accentuates the great music that it already there. Other noticeable differences are the drums and the Vortex's backing vocals. Nick Barker's drums don't come off as being overly triggered, as I thought they sounded on their last release. Same thing with Vortex's clean vocals. They are not quite as prominent.
With a minute or so intro, "Allegiance" starts things off with a black metal fury of blast beats only to slow down and do what the band does best, play some melodic interludes, then rip right back into the music. The most "commercial" song is "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse", which features a guest appearance by Abbath of
Immortal on vocals. All throughout this disc, the symphonic attributes could easily be on a movie soundtrack, and this particular track is no exception. Very majestic sounding. There are two tracks in Norwegian, "Vredesbyrd" and "Allehelgens Dod I Helveds Rike", both of which kick your ass within seconds. Another couple tracks that caught my attention were "Blood Hunger Doctrine" and "Eradication Instincts Defined". Both have a definite
Samael feel to them with that slow to midpaced plodding along with the keyboards in the background...even with a little of that techno feel that
Samael does. Kinda weird but it works. Another great track is "Cataclysm Children". It's a definite headbanging tune in the vein of early
Kill 'em All era Metallica. So, where's the big sounding intro like there was on their previous release? It's the intro to "Eradication Instincts Defined". It may seem a bit weird to have it 9 tracks in, but for some reason it fits right into place.
This disc is over an hour long, so you have plenty of material to absorb. If you liked Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, be sure to pick this one up. If you get the digi-pak, there is a cover of "Satan My Master" by Bathory.
