Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli

Okay, so Dimmu Borgir’s new album, In Sorte Diaboli, came out in April this year. The first time I heard the title, I thought it was a Latin rip-off of Metallica’s ‘Some Kind of Monster’. Apparently, my Latin isn’t as good as I thought it to be, because the title really means ‘In Direct Contact With Satan’.

That’s the album cover. Pretty neat, huh? It is common knowledge that satanists just adore goat-headed boobmonsters that like to pretend they have guns in their hands. Nice crotch-snakes, however. Bang! Bang! Off to hell with you, foolish mortal. Also, what’s with all the faceless people? Too much satanic vanishing cream?

Moving on, here’s the tracklist, just in case you were wondering:

1. “The Serpentine Offering” – 5:09
2. “The Chosen Legacy” – 4:17
3. “The Conspiracy Unfolds” – 5:24
4. “The Ancestral Fever” (European Bonus Track) – 5:51
5. “The Sacrilegious Scorn” – 3:58
6. “The Fallen Arises” – 2:59
7. “The Heretic Hammer” (North American Bonus Track) – 4:37
8. “The Sinister Awakening” – 5:09
9. “The Fundamental Alienation” – 5:17
10. “The Invaluable Darkness” – 4:44
11. “The Foreshadowing Furnace” – 5:49

“Black Metal” (Venom cover) (Japanese Bonus Track)Where the hell are the Middle Eastern, West African, and South Asian bonus tracks, huh? What makes the Japanese so damn special?

Oh, by the way, this is also Dimmu Borgir’s first concept album. Here’s more info from Wikipedia:

In Sorte Diaboli is the band’s first concept album, with a story located in medieval Europe. It is about a priest who begins to doubt his faith, and then ends up taking the place of the Antichrist. “There’s this dude that works as a priest’s assistant, and after a while he just discovers that he has nothing to do with Christianity,” Silenoz says. “He just sort of has this awakening and realizes that he has different abilities and different powers and is leaning more to the dark side.” The conclusion of the story in the booklet implies that the story of In Sorte Diaboli is not yet finished, possibly hinting that Dimmu Borgir’s next studio album will continue this concept.

You probably know by now that I’ve ripped most of my information off of the Wikipedia. If you haven’t, here it is: I ripped most of my information off of the Wikipedia. Surprised? Don’t be. If you think “off of” is improper usage, forget you.

Since you’ve been really patient and have made it this far, here’s a little audio-visual treat for you jerks:

All in all, however, I kinda like this album. Coming from someone who’s never been a big fan of Dimmu Borgir’s music, that’s something, and coming from me, that’s a lot. You should go to your local music store right now and buy this album. (If you are a resident of any of the thousands of small cities in India, don’t bother pulling your pants up from around your ankles and going to the record store. Oh, right, you probably don’t even have a record store. I know I dont. That’s why I downloaded the album illegally. I’m not saying piracy is okay; I’m just saying I’m a penny-pinching jackass.)