Dimmu Borgir - Abrahadabra (2010) - Completely overloaded - 60% (06/10/10)

The new direction of Dimmu Borgir is quite clear. They go away from their black metal roots and focus on a more symphonic style which is comparable to classic and dramatic movie scores.

This must not be a bad thing. Other Scandinavian bands like "Therion" or "Amorphis" went away from their roots and released lately two very intense and diversified albums. They reinvented themselves and I feel very positive about this innovation and courage.

But Dimmu Borgir completely fails with their approach. The bombastic orchestra destroys the dynamic and heaviness of the songs. After the very dramatically and overloaded kitsch intro "Xibir", "Born treacherous" sounds extremely weak and has no connection with the introduction at all. It seems to me that the band doesn’t really know what to do or where to go and that's why this song sounds really faceless.

The band really tries to be innovating and add something new to their sound. The first single "Gateways" has it all: dark chants, female guest vocals, several changes of speed and style - but it all feels too forced, too hectically and simply overambitious.

The song "Dimmu Borgir" shows perfectly what the main problem of this album is. The band had maybe three good ideas and stuck them all into one single song. This sounds like a weird potpourri of ideas that doesn't fit together at all. After the orchestral introduction of this song, I would not have been surprised to listen to the voice of Andi Deris from the German power metal legend "Helloween" and I think that this is somehow a shame for a Norwegian band with black metal roots. The most stunning fact is that the latest release of this power metal band sounds heavier than Dimmu Borgir in the year of our Lord 2010.

Where does this band want to go? This album is simply overloaded and goes nowhere. Fewer ideas which could have been developed in a better way would have created a better dynamic and atmosphere. Maybe they should have done two new albums with all those ideas. Let's hope that the bands takes its time to create more healthy arrangements in the future and takes a clear path that they may follow instead of a dozen ones at the same time.