Out of all the bands to ever come out of the prestigious Norwegian black metal scene, none - perhaps except early Mayhem and Leader - has caused as much controversy as the "mall goth" legends Dimmu Borgir. If you didn't catch the inside joke on Dimmu Borgir being "mall goths", well, it's because that's been their image pretty much ever since their sophomore release "Stormblåst" - their debut "For All Tid", on the other hand, was a superb demonstration of exemplary black metal magic (it was even nominated in the top ten most influential black metal albums of all time).
So how could a band once known for producing some of black metal's best work ("For All Tid"), on par with the best of Mayhem, Burzum and Darkthrone (I know I will be blamed for stating this), turn into the "scarecrow" of the genre...? The type of band you point at, as if warning your kid at a supermarket: "don't grow up to be like them"? Perhaps because Dimmu Borgir never cared about other people's opinions...
Dimmu Borgir was founded by Shagrath and Silenoz, with the inclusion of a well-known black metal drummer... the legendary Hellhammer of Mayhem fame. And that's quite something, as Hellhammer is oft regarded as the best drummer in extreme metal.
Still, Hellhammer has never been very vocal about his involvement with other, non-Mayhem bands (he also played in the elite black metal band Antestor). He prefers to focus on the music. So it was mostly just the provocateur Silenoz and the misunderstood philosopher Shagrath doing the edgy interviews.
Silenoz: "We Don't Mourn Euronymous at all..."
Speaking of interviews, in a recent release of the Morsay Mag, Shagrath and Silenoz sat down to share their experience with Dimmu Borgir... and perhaps even more rare, some anecdotes about the early days of black metal in Norway, notably their involvement with the Inner Circle based around the shop "Helvete" (Norwegian for "Hell"), run by Euronymous in the early 1990s.
Silenoz: It was just a specialised store in extreme Metal in which the MAYHEM members lived for a while. Actually there is nothing more to add about that place, except that it was at times hard to see something in there. It was fucking dark and hot in there... [ed, note: perhaps that's why it was called "Helvete"/"Hell"?]
Dimmu Borgir often receives "direct fire" from some old school black metal bands, see Satyricon's angry rant and more recently the 1349 interview, where they are accused - among other things - of "diluting" the black metal spirit with cheap synths and metalcore inspired melodies.
Shagrath: "We are a True Black Metal Band..."
What does Dimmu Borgir have to answer to this?
Shagrath: We are a true black metal band, we have never been afraid of going into new directions and as an artist it's also important to not try to repeat yourself too much, because then it would be boring. [...] We don't care about old school black metal.
This echoes a comment Shagrath made in an earlier interview where he said something like "we were always considered the black sheep in this community full of black sheep" (when addressing the Mayhem allegations, notably).
And speaking of Mayhem, this is perhaps one of the first times Dimmu Borgir was asked about their involvement in the more "secretive" side of black metal... the infamous "Inner Circle" run by Euronymous himself.
Silenoz: I can not say that I knew Euronymous (in fact who did actually know him personally?), but I guess he had some good ideas, although I don't support all of them. I don't mourn his death at all, though I noticed that some people looked up to him as a leader. They are weak minded fools.
This can be seen as a jab at Jon Nödtveidt of Dissection who, allegedly, "devoted his life" to Mayhem guitarist and frontman Euronymous... despite the fact that the two men barely knew each other.
About the Future of Dimmu Borgir's Music...
Shagrath ends the interview by expanding on why Dimmu Borgir is a band that stands above the hordes of cheap imitators.
Shagrath: In Dimmu Borgir you can expect the unexpected. That's how we like to, when we do something we want to, there is no limits for where we can take it, in which direction, and that's how we want it to be, it needs to be. [...] But we are not a band like AC/DC, where you buy an album and you know what to expect. But Dimmu Borgir are quite different, even though I'm a fan of AC/DC.
Indeed, always expect the unexpected with Dimmu Borgir. That is a heuristic more than a rule, but it certainly sounds true. While I obviously can't recommend their later synth/gothcore inspired elevator "muzak", you would do well to give "For All Tid" a listen if you like true atmospheric black metal. One simply cannot recommend this album enough. The rest of Dimmu Borgir's discography...? Meh.
They should have stuck to "old school" black metal, as they say.
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