01. Xibir 02. Born Treacherous 03. Gateways 04. Chess with the Abyss 05. Dimmu Borgir 06. Ritualist 07. The Demiurge Molecule 08. A Jewel Traced Through Coal 09. Renewal 10. Endings and Continuations

Verdict: 8

DIMMU BORGIR Abrahadabra

Dimmu Borgir are definitely on to something with the new album Abrahadabra. For some strange reason their Black-Metal has turned white and hell has frozen in the process...

After the last album In Sorte Diaboli the band has been followed by by problems. The situation deteriorated to the point where members we engaged in fist fights with each other. So two of the members were fired and then they were three. Many a evil rumor on the internet has claimed that the greed of the remaining members was the true reason behind the problems and that ICS Vortex was the composer. Now Dimmu Borgir rumored to be doomed, they simply couldn't compose music themselves. But nothing could possibly be further from the truth.

As usual the band incorporate orchestral parts in the Satanic Black Metal but for some reason the classical arrangements actually add to the overall sound of the record and this is rare. Mostly the classical element usually makes the bands sound like soundtracks to bad computer games. Dimmu Borgir sound more powerful than ever and it is obvious that they are on a campaign to overthrow every government of the world and replace it with a pure black evil Abrahadabra dictatorship.

Abrahadabra took eleven months to make and the band have told over and over in interviews that the problems the band faced has been the inspiration. All the bad feelings have been poured in big doses into the creation of Abrahadabra. It sure been well worth waiting for.

Previous to the release of the album the multi-talent Snowy Shaw (Dream Evil, King diamond, Therionl) told media that he was a member of Dimmu Borgir. The band firmly denied his statements, Snowy Shaw simply was one of over 100 musicians involved in the creation of Abrahadabra.The comical twist to this is that Snow Shaw left Dream Evil since he was angry that some of his fellow musicians didn't carry their weight and now Dimmu only want to feed him proportionally to his effort (this Dream Evil lineup also lost a gifted guitar player just about the same time. Gus G that now play with none less than the Ozzman).

You all surely have heard the first single Gateways and the entire album is just as strong. It really is epic yet it is hard. It seems like the primal need to prove that they still could, have forced the remaining members to excel in every way possible. It is clever of the Dimmu Borgir to vary the music a lot, make an album less predictable and richer in the contrast.

The hard sound harder and the mellow even darker than usual.