Band: Dimmu Borgir
Drums: Dariusz “Daray” Brzozowski
Album: Abrahadabra
Label: Nuclear Blast
Release Date: 12-Oct-2010
DD Rating:

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This review is long past due. I got this album the day it came out but kept forgetting to do a write-up!

I don’t even know what to call this kind of music anymore. At this point in its evolution, it’s really a sub-genre of a sub-genre of metal. Don’t dare call it black metal; the purists will flambé you alive inside a centuries-old church. (I know, it’s a tired stereotype, but I couldn’t resist.) No, as soon as you can decipher lyrics or even instrumentation in a recording obviously not made for $50 in some brooding Norwegian dude’s mom’s basement, it’s no longer black metal. I guess we’re calling Dimmu “symphonic black metal” now? In any case, Dimmu Borgir has long been far afield of the origins of black metal, and Abrahadabra is their biggest, most polished album to date.

[Sidebar: Check out the documentaries Metal and Until the Light Takes Us for more on the evolution of black metal.]

The bad news is that Simen Hestnæs (I.C.S. Vortex) is no longer in the band, and his absence of is conspicuous. If there was a single reason for my 3.5/5 rating, I think it might be the lack of Vortex. The good news is that the new drummer, Dariusz “Daray” Brzozowski, is a monster. Better news: Gone are the ridiculously phony-sounding triggered drums of Hellhammer…

Daray was the drummer for Polish death metal band Vader. I am not familiar with much Vader, but what I’ve heard has been pretty badass. Daray’s drumming on Abrahadabra is impressive. It’s not particularly unique like Nick Barker on Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, but there’s some neat stuff here, and his blast beats will definitely melt your face.

The production is incredible and sooo un-black metal: huge, crystal clear, expensive. Many lambaste the inclusion of orchestras in rock/metal, but the Norwegian Radio Orchestra (Kringkastingsorkestret) adds an indispensable dynamic and texture to the songs, and it makes all the synthesized strings and such of albums past sound cheesy in comparison. (The hardcore fans are seething right now, but listen to Abrahadabra, then listen to Enthrone Darkness Triumphant and imagine how much better it would be with a string section. Am I completely off base?)

Also against the tenets of black metal are the lyrics. Previous albums were cartoonishly “evil”, but Dimmu Borgir seem to being moving in a different direction. The lyrics of Abrahadabra are dark for sure, but by being more mystic, existential, misanthropic than outright beasts-and-pentagrams malevolent. This, in my opinion, is much more interesting.

Tracks of note include “Born Treacherous”, “Gateways”, “The Demiurge Molecule”, “A Jewel Traced Through Coal”, “Renewal”, “Endings and Continuations”… Actually, that’s more than half the album—and the other four tracks are good too—so I guess I liked all of it!

Abrahadabra isn’t the type of album to create converts to the genre, so I recommend it only to fans and the most open-minded of listeners.