Dimmu Borgir – Eonian

6/10

When Dimmu Borgir, celebrating their 10th-album anniversary (“Stormblåst MMV” included) releases their new album “Eonian”, there should be no doubt what it’s all about! Ever since the Norwegians debut, the considerably more modest “För all tid” the band have pursued an increasingly more bombastic sound for every album, not necessarily less aggressive, but without a doubt, without any ambition to sound especially raw or “true”. Dimmu Borgir have chosen their own way, untouched by the slandering about them being “sell out” or whatever and with that in hindsight one becomes somewhat surprised, looking at the beautiful cover painting, done by Zbigniew Bielak (Behemoth, Mayhem, Watain among others), giving the impression that we, on “Eonian”, are to deal with some sort of “Orthodox Black Metal” and for a moment I wonder, or perhaps hope, that Dimmu Borgir have climbed onto that wagon.

At first, my suspicions almost seem confirmed, because after a short intro (you’d better get used to those, since they come in plenty on this album) Dimmu Borgir burst out in a sulfurous riff that would not have felt misplaced on one of the more recent Watain albums. However, it does not take long before the harsh riffing abruptly breaks off into one of the usual pompous arrangements, which have become Dimmu Borgirs trade mark and you can only state that everything is normal in the Dimmu Borgir camp, thus “Eonian” offers the usual stuff with plenty of large choirs, orchestral arrangements and sound effects upon that.

Although one or another infernal riff has found its way into the compositions. The albums problem is that when you start to nod in approval to some of the sparse “evil” riffing, it almost at once breaks into some keyboard part, some interlude with chanting and ethnical drumming or simply, a pompous refrain where every form of guitar riff is effectively drenched in sumptuous choruses.

Now, that’s how Dimmu Borgir is supposed to sound and probably what most people, enjoying the band, are looking for, but over the years, the sound has become a bit less “evil” and aggressive (the sugar-sown debut and Stormblåst not accounted for) with every album and maybe they have taken the concept a bit too far this time? And what about those spoken parts? After all, Shagrath has one of the better and more personal voices in extreme metal, but I wish that he would focus on the singing instead of those monologues that appear in each and every interlude.

With that said, I believe that, even with my objections, this album will appeal to the fans, it is obviously both well-arranged and professionally performed, with some real catchy parts, although I can’t help thinking that it would have been a little fun if it was just a bit harder around the edges, yes, just a little bit rawer!

Artist: Dimmu Borgir
Title: Eonian
Label: Nuclear Blast
Date of Release: 4/5-18
Playing Time: 54:19
Rate: 6/10
Stand out track: Archaic Correspondence