Dimmu Borgir - Enthrone Darkness Triumphant (Black Metal)

From the very bottom of the mallcore barrel comes this marriage of the worst elements to be have ever been introduced to metal. Sung-shout pseudo rapping crybaby vocals, "evil" rock harmony 101 harmonic minor key melodies underneath layers of chuggy 90s grooves, and stock standard speed metal frills thrown in between approximations of Iron Maiden-isms derived by proxy from the Slaughter of the Soul disaster.

The songs go nowhere, being nothing more than a series of incongruous parts suggesting they are sometimes "angry" at things, but then they throw in a try-hard "bittersweet" Satyricon riff to show their "sensitive" side. Piss poor keyboard implementation makes this a more awkwardly comedic alternative to Brokencyde's crunkcore debacle, often time playing ill-fitting DJ emulation sampling at best. At worst, synth lines that sound like they were lifted from the Zelda soundtracks rear their ugly heads.

The vocals on Enthrone Darkness Triumphant are ridiculously horrible. Delivered in a pseudo-rap crying manner reminiscent of Korn and Slipknot, and sometimes interrupted by background "growls" harmonised in prepubescent tones, this is probably the second worst element of this recording as it is, along with the shitty video game soundtrack synths, the most overbearing. This results in their effete lyrics about "personal demons", getting "touched by the beyond" and other cringe-worthy topics being really easy to decipher, further piling on to the atrocious nature of the record.

Enthrone Darkness Triumphant is useless and unimportant music. It's what happens when a group of fragile posers decide to make music out of a collage of the past and what's currently "hip", for no reason than to "be part of the scene". They don't even do this effectively as all the songs on this album are confused about their own direction, torn between the pseudo-progressive noodling of later Emperor and the mallcore of Slaughter of the Soul era At the Gates, and impart absolutely nothing upon the listener (Master of Disharmony sounds like a Killswitch Engage song with shitty synths and distortion thrown on mid way for the pretence of being "symphonic black metal"). Vapid. Avoid this turd Enthrone Darkness Triumphant at all costs.