Comments on: Dimmu Borgir – Abrahadabra

By: Cynicgods

Cynicgods — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 08:51:31 +0000

The clean vocalist in Endings And Continuations is not Snowy Shaw. It’s actually the trickster himself, Garm. You might want to change that, Jordan.

Other than that this is an excellent review, even if I don’t necessarily agree with it.

By: Eric

Eric — Sat, 16 Oct 2010 22:29:14 +0000

Thanks to this album, I think all keyboardist should be replaced by orchestras and choirs.
As for the song gateways, along with the video, I like it. Agnette is haunting in vocal style and presence in the video. I wish she’d been more prominent on the other tracks. The whole album is enveloping. If you give it a little liberty and patience you’ll be rewarded with some of dimmu’s most interesting and flat out head banging moments to date.

By: rycro

rycro — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 21:50:59 +0000

Even though there is a lot of argument that they are even black metal anymore, they still put out great material, album after album. Their riffs are brutal and they symphonic take on “black” metal is the best in the business. Every song either feels epic, sinister, and/or adrenalinizing.

I think you can credit Silenoz and Shagrath for being not only good musicians and songwriters, but also having good business sense. They rotate good talent in and out of this band like it’s a hockey game. All the while this talent rotation changes their style slightly enough on each album so it isn’t as if they are putting out the same music everytime.

Personally, I love Stormblast I and Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, but why recreate that….oh wait, they remade Stormblast II…..either way, still a good effort.

Love it or hate it, they are the undisputed kings of the carnival symphonic black metal creation.

By: bast

bast — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:06:05 +0000

This came as a surprise.
At first, I couldn´t listen to 2 songs straight from this album, and thought I had confirmed my fears that Dimmu was lost (since In sorte d…). Oh, was I wrong…

By: Dan Zidar

Dan Zidar — Tue, 12 Oct 2010 13:27:11 +0000

No mention of Vortex’s sped up vocals in the video track, whatever it’s called?

By: faust666

faust666 — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 19:52:39 +0000

Excellent, accurate review. “Gateways” is one of the best DB songs ever and also one of the best songs of 2010.

By: Blackwater Park

Blackwater Park — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 23:36:02 +0000

This album sucks shit. Vortex is irreplaceable and that ugly slunt they have singing over Gateways is a joke. Trying to mimic Vortex’s parts but sounding like an absolute hack in the process. White fur and tassels too… give me a break, the whole effort is a joke.

Dimmu Borgir is dead and Vortex and Mustis definitely got the last laugh to not have to be associated with this shit platter.

By: mccumberv

mccumberv — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 13:26:53 +0000

After hearing and seeing that Gateways video I was really turned off, but now after checking out the rest of the album I would say its pretty good, nice mix of metal and symphonic bombast, there are also some prety cool blasting parts here and there….very good review thanks!

By: emperorjvl

emperorjvl — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 04:35:11 +0000

Definitely the best since Puritanical… Death Cult Armageddon was a snoozefest, and In Sorte rpetitive and uninteresting. Definite improvement, though I wish they had lost Shagrath instead of Vortex and Mustis, though his vox here are, again, better than the last two discs.

By: Desperado

Desperado — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 02:10:53 +0000

I need to give this album some more spins, but overall its enjoyable. I like the song and video gateways, and had hoped the rest of the album was in a similar vein. I also like the solos and Snowy Shaw is alright.

By: drowningincorn

drowningincorn — Tue, 05 Oct 2010 01:56:16 +0000

“It opens with triumphant acapella choirs that can only be described as the Broadway production of Pocahontas,…”

Ha! Awesome line. That tells me everything I need to know about this record.

By: Clauricaune

Clauricaune — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:12:12 +0000

I’ve never been a Dimmu fan (last thing I heard from them I think was Puritanical, and I don’t remember much of it), but I don’t take it against them either. Gotta give them credit: their style, laughable and all, is very unique and they do what they do well. Some of the songs here are really sticky, and not in a bad way. I thought others were somewhat generic and tend to fade into the background, but overall I can’t say I didn’t like this record.

By: Nick Taxidermy

Nick Taxidermy — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 15:17:50 +0000

glad you like it. I lost interest in this kind of silliness long ago. the single just made me laugh at them. like a blackened take on Beauty And The Beast goth metal. no thank you.

By: Erik Thomas

Erik Thomas — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:55:31 +0000

Def improvement over In Sorte, good solid Dimmu Effort.

By: Jodi

Jodi — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 13:26:36 +0000

Your reviews are always a pleasure to read, this one included. Glad to hear I’m not the only one who thought In Sorte was a little lackluster.

White fur and tassels!

By: Nicolas

Nicolas — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 12:16:48 +0000

Good review! Like most Dimmu’s fans, I had my doubts about this album after hearing about Vortex and Mustis departure from the band. But, I was pleasantly surprised with Abrahadabra, it’s a great Dimmu album. The orchestration is simply amazing.

Snowy Shaw also does a good job, it’s not Vortex, but once you accept the fact that ICS will no longer be there and move on, you can appreciate what Snowy is doing on this album.

I will see them on december 13 in Montreal, I wish they’d come with the Kork orchestra, that would be awesome!!