Review: Dimmu Borgir – Grand Serpent Rising
Watch out for Sneks & Borgirs! 🍔
For over 30 years, Norwegians Dimmu Borgir have been a popular name in the black metal scene. Alongside Emperor, they were pioneers of the symphonic black metal sound with such strong outings as For All Tid, Stormblast and Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. They have kept on pumping releases ever since with some having diminishing returns in quality, though I was fond of Abrahadabra. In recent times, there have been debacles between members; most notably, Galder left in 2024 to focus on Old Man’s Child again. Now, after recently celebrating their third decade as a band, they’ve released their 11th album, Grand Serpent Rising.
The album really trips up on the first hurdle with “Tridentium.” It feels like a glorified intro track that lasts over 4 minutes with some spoken word from Shagrath tacked on at the end. All this felt really unnecessary and just adds padding to an album that sounds like it’s going to be way too long for its own good. Now the actual music starts with “Ascent;” one of the noticeable things I’m hearing is there’s more energy and commitment to deliver memorable music than on their last album, Eonian. There are some strong moments from the guitars and the song feels like a lost track from In Sorte Diaboli. There’s also the sense that there’s more aggression on this latest effort as shown in “As Seen in the Unseen.” The symphony here sounds really nice and several parts feel like a throwback to the sounds of Death Cult Armageddon; I also enjoyed the acoustic segments in this track in particular.
While this record is more energetic than the last few, it still feels hampered by common traits and flaws in Dimmu Borgir’s recent efforts, taking my interest down a lot. It’s shown in “The Qryptfarer” in which the symphonic elements really do the heavy lifting. There’s also the sense of Shagrath hogging the spotlight—a common occurrence throughout the album. The next song, “Ulvgeld & Blodsodel,” is okay at best to be honest; it has some cool spots especially in the latter half but also feels like very cookie cutter modern Dimmu Borgir. The best song on the album is probably “Silk Minnes es Alkymst,” which feels like one of the better modern Dimmu Borgir tracks I’ve heard. It’s got a great melodic guitar intro and it carries on the momentum throughout, showing that when they put in the effort, Dimmu Borgir can still write a banger.
Once again, as shown in “Phantom of the Nemesis”, these songs are mostly carried by spooky synths. There are also some odd moments like the spoken vocal parts from Shagrath; it’s strange because I didn’t mind them in Abrahadabra, but they’ve become a lot worse on this album. “The Exonerated” is another strong track, and the guitars feel massive, fitting with the bombastic sound the band is known for in recent times. This is followed by the opposite with “Recognizant” which is just completely boring. It’s a very by-the-numbers Dimmu Borgir track that’s instantly unmemorable—even the guitar solo couldn’t put life back into it.
“At the Precipice of Convergence” is another standout, feeling like a modernized Enthrone Darkness Triumphant track. In “Shadows of a Thousand Perceptions,” there’s more of an atmospheric approach which is, again, dragged down by Shagrath’s spoken word segments. The instrumental closing track, “Gjǫll,” ends the album on a high note. This is mainly due to the symphonic atmosphere it builds that reminds me of Summoning.
Grand Serpent Rising is a tale of two conflicting sides for me. It’s certainly a major improvement on Eonian with the heavy lifting coming from the guitar-work from Silenoz and the symphonic orchestration. These two main areas do a fantastic job in giving the band’s sound an energy lacking in recent efforts, with the big, bombastic, out-of-this-world feeling the band achieves when firing on all cylinders. However, the length of the album is an issue that dampens the overall experience. They could have easily trimmed the fat off, including the 4+-minute intro and Shagrath’s various monologues. There’s a sense he’s taken the spotlight away from the other interesting factors of the band, which makes for a middling release overall.
2.5/5 Flaming Toilets ov Hell
Grand Serpent Rising is out now via Nuclear Blast Records
