Seen a few comparisons to Nightwish and Therion here, but I'm hearing a fair bit of Epica in this. The choir work especially.

Estonian

Oh god, I don't know if it is because I've been listening only to DSO clones lately but I found this album refreshing.

->Some outstanding tracks
Interdimensional Summit
Ætheric
Council Of Wolves And Snakes
I Am Sovereign
Alpha Aeon Omega


->Some mediocore tracks
The Unveiling
Lightbringer
Archaic Correspondence


But overall very good material !

As a lover of catchy music, this reminds me of other catchy tunes from Paramore, Avril Lavigne and Nickelback that i could not help but sing along to. The fact that this debuted at number 142 on the Billboard Top 200 is testament of how catchy it is. This is just as sweet sounding as Melissa . Council of wolves and snakes and the rites of passage make Dimmu Borgir the forefront band in attracting new listeners to heavy metal. Buy this album and don't forget to get your granny a copy. Shagrath and co with their satanic outfits and image now look as scary as the band Lordi which is the best thing that could happen to Dimmu in terms of their commercial appeal.

At first I didn't like this album very much, but after several listening I started to love it. It must be said that regarding darkness and hardness, it's the softest album comparing to other previous albums, however it doesn't mean it's bad. They definitely are talented musicians and and they definitely proved it when making this different, but still great album.

As a metal album, this is super catchy and accessible and fun and uplifting.

As a black metal album... well, it's not a black metal album. And that's fine. But you really need to know that ahead of time if you're hoping for some kvlt shit. Even the guitars are tuned to "radio friendly" from a non-elitist standpoint. Aside from the vocals, most hints and traces of legitimate black metal influence are incredibly difficult to ascertain, aside from maybe arpeggio notes and scattered blastbeats. I assume they still wear corpse paint and gimmicky outfits to portray themselves as black metal musicians as well, although that doesn't actually have any bearing on the sound.

It sucks for them because this is actually a really well-crafted album and it obviously required lots of effort, collaboration, and ingenuity. But it's so soft and watered down, even for a Dimmu Borgir album, that the majority of metal fans will laugh in its face or cringe in response to at least half of what's presented here.

Replace Thoresen with some generic goth rock vocalist or even some half-assed falsetto "pro" and release it as a debut under a different band name (one that never gets admitted to Metal-Archives for being "non-metal") and I guarantee the reactions to this album would be significantly weighted on the positive, if not adoring side of the rating spectrum.

As for me, I think with it trying to be too many things at once and clearly reaching for something it can't be, despite putting forth a high quality effort... it's gonna be a naw from me.

Not bad. I really liked "Interdimensional Summit" which reminded me a lot of Epica. Overall there's this hard rock vibe which doesn't always work, but the songs are solid enough. It's certainly not overly symphonic, no more than their previous albums. I definitely don't see the Nightwish comparison - that seems like a very effortless and easy thing to say just because they're symphonic - Epica is a much closer comparison.

It's not bad per se but it doesn't hold a candle to the classic Dimmu records. Not in composition, in arrangement, not in production or performances. The production especially, how can it sound so flat...

Re listen this again, question is if we can call it metal, yes, but its more they turn softer somehow gothic, symphonic direcetions
To me this is their best after re recorded album,.