Dimmu Borgir
Enthrone Darkness Triumphant

THE REVIEW

This album essentially consists of two parts and is the meeting point between the previous Stormblåst and the subsequent Spiritual Black Dimension.
Moreover, from now on, the titles of Dimmu's CDs will start to be composed of three words, of which two (often) are adjectives plus a noun (something must have clicked, or come loose, in Shagrath's mind).

It is no secret that this is the CD most loved by Dimmu fans and metalheads in general.

These five pagans (to use a euphemism) from Norway have gotten smarter and, leaving behind the iron clubs, have shuffled the deck a bit, creating a masterpiece (which in my opinion is still inferior to Stormblåst) suited to all tastes.
Some may have wanted the same Dimmu from Stormblåst, poetic and melodic, and others may have wanted the Dimmu angrier, with fewer classical embellishments and dark keyboard chords (almost always in a minor key) instead of the sweet piano of Stormblåst.
Dimmu did both, mixing them and creating something unique and unrepeatable. On one side, there are truly devastating pure black metal riffs accompanied by the immense Tjodalv (now leader of Susperia) with blast beats bordering on inhuman  (as in Relinquishment of Spirit and Flesh or Tormentor of Christian Soul), while on the other, we have the "sweet" and melancholic melodies of Entrance or Prudence's Fall, just to name a few examples.

There's no need to spend too many words on the genre; let's say it's melodic symphonic black metal with some gothic flashes here and there, mainly due to the ethereal atmospheres crafted by Stian, arguably the best keyboardist symphonic black metal has ever known.

A must-have album, both because it will keep you company for many months before you tire of it, and because it is an album that changed symphonic black metal and gave birth to thousands of carbon copies (including Cradle of Filth) who tried in vain to emulate this masterpiece.