Dimmu Borgir - Forces of the Northern Night (2017)

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Finally immortalizing one of their iconic full-orchestra and choir shows, today we have Dimmu Borgir and the monumental “Forces of the Northern Night”. Featuring around 90 minutes of live material both in video (DVD or Blu-ray) and audio CD’s, this is one of the most epic live releases we have seen in a while. Not needing any introduction, this band will blow you away with the intensity they bring to the live shows.

We are only reviewing their Wacken Open air show in 2012, where the band was accompanied on stage with the Czech National Symphonic Orchestra and the Schola Cantorum choir. In this already legendary concert, the band played the full “Abrahadabra” album first, and then a pretty solid selection of their greatest hits. The first part of the concert hits the listener hard with epic renditions of crushing songs like “Born Treacherous” and “Gateways” featuring a guest appearance by Agnete Kjølsrud.

The orchestra gets warmed up playing the instrumental version of our favorite “Dimmu Borgir”, and then the band comes out and delivers the Metal rendition of this track, with the very dramatic string and choral arrangements greatly magnifying the song’s dramatic nature. As the band and the orchestra keep tearing up through the remaining tracks of “Abrahadabra”, we are pleasantly blown away with the rendition of “Progenies of the Great Apocalypse”, one of our favorite tracks from the band.

The classical arrangements of tracks like “The Serpentine Offering”, “Kings of the Carnival Creation” and “Puritania” greatly enhance the overall experience, making them even more bombastic and at the same time providing great contrast with the ‘Metal’ elements of the band’s sound. Just before closing with an instrumental, the band delivers one of the most epic renditions of “Mourning Palace”, pleasing all fans new and old from the band.

Overall, the Wacken 2012 performance is brilliantly captured in this very intense and engaging release. Hell, even some of the members of the strings section has some partial corpse paint on.  If you are a fan of the band, this is definitely a must have to your collection. Live releases are constantly getting better and better and Dimmu Borgir and Nuclear Blast set a very high bar with this one.

Band: Dimmu Borgir Album: Forces of the Northern Night

Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Release: April 28th, 2017

Official Site Social Media

Genre: Symphonic Black Metal

Country: Norway

Rating: 93/100
Year: 

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