Dimmu Borgir
Eonian

From 2010 Abrahadabra I didn't hear anything new from Dimmu Borgir and even didn't know they had a new album out until my friend had told me about it. I've ordered it, put in CD player and.... First listen was not too impressed. So I stuck it in the car for work travelling. Now love it !!!! Great sound. I Am Sovereign is absolutely phenomenal. One of the best albums for me so far.

Was it worth it? It was this question that tormented my interaural ganglion while listening to the new work of The Dark Fortress. The problem is not that “Eonian” is bad or vice versa - a good album by Dimmu Borgir. The fact is that it is not needed. At all. 8 years of silence led to very definite thoughts about the complete creative impotence of the once glorious collective. These thoughts were fueled by periodic statements by the musicians themselves that they had no material. But apparently the bosses of Nuclear Blast, shaking the contract, kicked the Norwegian idlers in the ass. And so: we have what we have. “Eonian”, God forgive me. Technically, there are no complaints about the album, with the exception of Shagrat's senile grunts (which has been annoying me for 17 years in a row). Everything was recorded just fine - it could not be otherwise. Chorus, orchestra - everything is in its place. The problem is in the material itself: it is endlessly dull and dreary. Despite the assurances of Silenos, no “return to the roots” occurred, there is no blackout at all. And there is some obscure symphonic-horseradish-understand-that-metal, with a bevel under Therion. Three regular members of the collective over the past years after the release of “Abrahadabra”, could not squeeze out good riffs and melodies from themselves, let alone make good compositions from them. And no choirs and orchestrations can drape the whole void and squalor of songs from “Eonian”, the apotheosis of which is worthless is the absolutely dumb “Council Of Wolves And Snakes”. As a result, Dimmu Borgir released an album in which there is nothing besides symphonic “decorations”. Returning to the question asked at the beginning of the review, I can say that no, it was not worth it.