The symphonic black plague has its sights
set on infecting the city of Birmingham this evening,
after already sweeping the rest of our great nation
over the past fortnight one can only assume success.
Dimmu Borgir have found themselves very successful
in their respected black metal genre worldwide;
so when news dropped the band were to embark on
a lengthy UK tour contained by intimate venues,
smiles cracked across the faces of face painted
fans nationwide. Not only would these shows be
intimate but it was also announced the shows would
have no support acts, instead they would contain
2 sets by the band. The first of them being an
album in its entirety as voted for by the fans
and the other containing hits from their back
catalogue, I will therefore split my review into
2 sections to cover both sets separately.
The winning album voted for from the 3 selections
available was “Enthrone Darkness Triumphant”,
so the first set consisted of that albums songs
played in the same order that it appears on the
album. The album was released 14 years ago, back
in 1997 and was the third  album the band ever
put out; the other 2 choices for the vote were
the only 2 that were released previous to this,
I therefore think the mentality behind the fans
that voted was that it was the most developed
of the 3 releases. I also think that a lot of
fans were unfamiliar or uninterested with the
majority of the album; this is based on the reception
during this first set compared with that of the
second, people much seemed less enthusiastic when
vocalist Shagrath introduced these songs. The
one song that did pull a decent reaction was “Tormentor
of Christian Souls” which received a very
warm reception. For me, I enjoyed the set but
I found myself desperately waiting for the second
set to begin because I’m a fan of their
more recent material and not really big on those
first 3 albums.
 The second set is on a completely different level!
The crowd is absolutely loving it, the band appears
to feed from that vibe, the material is superior
and much more familiar (In my opinion at least).
All of this builds a more enjoyable atmosphere
and greater performance overall. The songs as
well are more up my street; “The Serpentine
Offering”, “Gateways”, “Puritania”
and “Progenies of the Great Apocalypse”
are some of my all time favourite Dimmu songs.
Putting the whole thing together gives a tremendous
show overall; when you leave a gig, feeling like
you’ve seen the same band on 2 separate
occasions when this isn’t the case, they’ve
done something right. It’s shows like this
that make me glad I spend most of my time at gigs,
the feeling given by a great show like this is
unmatched.
4/5
Review By James Webb
Photos By Robert Lawrence
|
