Enthrone Darkness Triumphant: Reloaded [Enhanced, Extra tracks, Original recording remastered]

Dimmu Borgir | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 2, 2008)
• Original Release Date: 1997
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: Enhanced, Extra tracks, Original recording remastered
• Label: Nuclear Blast Americ
• ASIN: B001ANU9QG
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (122 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #60,003 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #66 in Music > World Music > Europe > Scandinavia > Norway

Editorial Reviews

The 1997 breakthrough album that won them worldwide acclaim and is still heralded as one of the finest Norwegian Black Metal offerings. Housed in a Super Jewel Case with tons of bonus material, this is vital material for any longtime Dimmu Borgir fan.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mournful Gothic/Black metal opus, June 7, 2000

By 

Hater of the Human Race (Under a Serpent Sun in Cincinnati, Ohio) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Enthrone Darkness Triumphant (Audio CD)

Dimmu Borgir became one of the biggest bands to play this kind of extreme music with this album. First, let me say that I like alot of raw black metal bands but I also like the gothic/black symphonic stuff that Dimmu Borgir plays. Shagrath's vocals are very powerful and are kind of in between a death growl and a tortured black metal scream. The guitar playing on this album is wonderful. It's sometimes fast, but at other times it's very melodic with technical riffs and nice solos. The beautiful keyboards on tracks like "In Death's Embrace" create a very sad atmosphere within the chaos of the music. "Tormentor of Christian Souls" is a very fast and aggressive song that just about any fan of black metal could probably enjoy as the symph is present, but only in moderation. Other standout tracks are "Mourning Palace", "Entrance", and "A Succubus in Rapture". Cradle of Filth fans would probably like Dimmu Borgir. If you already are a fan of Dimmu, i'd like to recommend Mystic Circle, Agathodaimon, Lux Occulta, Sigh, Thy Serpent, Covenant, and Nokturnal Mortum. All great symphonic black metal bands. HAIL DIMMU BORGIR!

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Still the best Dimmu CD, August 28, 2002

By 

Sam Chronic (Marietta, GA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Enthrone Darkness Triumphant (Audio CD)

Despite the line-up changes which occured after this album and can be deemed nothing else except improvements, this remains my favorite Dimmu release yet. The album has the atmosphere of Stormblast but with better production and all English lyrics except for one of my favorites on the CD; Raabjørn Speiler Draugheimens Skodde, which is the unlisted track 11. The production is also in my opinion much better than the later Spiritual Black Dimensions, while not too polished and overdone.

The CD is full of Dimmu classics from Mourning Palace, Spellbound, In Deaths Embrace to Tormentor of Christian Souls and A Succubus in Rapture. The atmosphere of the CD is killer, with the melodic riffing and some of the best keyboard work of it's kind done by former keyboardist Stian Aarstad.

Known for being one of those black metal bands that will not blast beat you into the ground, Dimmu Borgir shows their range on this album, going from brutal to melodic and back while not skipping a beat. Defintely a classic not only in the black metal genre but in any musical genre.....

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dimmu Borgir triumphs, June 11, 2001

By 

"king_niall" (my castle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Enthrone Darkness Triumphant (Audio CD)

Most people who like Dimmu Borgir think "Enthrone Darkness Triumphant" is their best album. I don't think so. I think the best DB album is not yet made, is still only a promise for the Future Aeons. If I had to point the best DB album so far... hmmm, I think that prize goes to "Spiritual Black Dimensions".

"EDT", then, is not the best Dimmu Borgir album ever, but it does have the best DB songs ever -"Mourning Palace", "In Death's Embrace", "Relinquishment Of Spirit And Flesh", "Entrance" and "Prudence's Fall"; songs that stand among the finest Metal of all time, if you ask me. The sound quality and mix are great for Black Metal standards; clear, but not as polished as to sound `digital'. Unlike "Spiritual Black Dimensions", one can always understand the guitar playing and drumming, not only thanks to the mix, but also because the riffs and rhythms are less complex and elaborate than in "SBD".

"Mourning Palace" opens the album, with a low keyboard motif that sounds like the beginning of a sinister waltz. Then the whole band goes off with all their heaviness, keeping the same melody, guitars roaring, Shagrath screaming with his extremely harsh voice and Tjodalv keeping everything in a nice mid-tempo. The second keyboard motif is very beautiful and sounds like something out of an Enya song, like "Caribbean Blue". In the context of a Black Metal song, however, this motif acquires a gloomy resonance. And that, I think, is the quintessence of Black Metal, the thing that separates the genre from Death, Thrash, and all the other branches of Metal: the juxtaposition of mystic, classical beauty and unholy aggression. And nobody does it better than Dimmu and a few other bands. "Mourning Palace" is one of the best DB songs, a work of great majesty and might, something to hear in a huge cathedral, standing in awe.

"In Death's Embrace" is my favorite DB song. It has a weird structure and style, halfway between a glorious gothic instrumental and a raw old-school song. There are 5 different movements in it. It begins with a galloping rhythm and a simple riff, but with an intricate, beautiful piano theme that repeats itself for one minute, then a little vocal interlude and then the glorious, orchestral part, with a sorrowful piano, very slow rhythm and prolonged chords. This long moment is so sad and grandiose it feels like celestial music. And then, when you think it can't get better, suddenly, a triumphant orchestral fanfare interrupts the elegy and goes off full throttle with more slow drums and long, powerful chords. This moment is the heart of the song, and has so much magnificence it makes me feel I'm levitating. Then again comes the elegiac piano and then a new motif that sounds cheerful, but in a solemn way. The end of the song is a repetition of the first minute, but with vocals, displaying an almost symmetric constitution. I can't start to describe the feelings that this song creates in me. Something so joyful and sad at the same time is beyond description, and still you find in it a Black Metal song that rocks like no other. Absolutely the best.

"Relinquishment of Spirit and Flesh": it took for me a little time to start loving this song. I am not crazy about raw, fast Black Metal a la Mayhem or Dark Throne, and this is a nod in that direction, as are the next two songs. This is very heavy, and less `commercial' sounding that the first 3 songs. I finally enjoyed it after very attentive listening, for its tight drum work and it sheer evilness and aggression. Nagash plays a cool bass melody near the end.

"Entrance", "Prudence's Fall" and "A Succubus In Rapture" (that last one is a ballad you wouldn't dedicate to you girlfriend) are my other favorites, using the same formula of heavy riffs and melodic keyboards and mid-tempo drums. While none of them surpass "In Death's Embrace", they're all awesome songs, all true masterpieces of Black Metal.

And now the thing I believe doesn't let "Enthrone Darkness Triumphant" become the best DB album ever: The inclusion of a very awful, laughable song, "The Night Masquerade". What they were thinking when they recorded this I don't know. Is boring, repetitive, annoying, the lyrics are embarrassing, the female voices and the "Beast" voice are as inept as they can be. I wonder, if DB wanted to stomp out loud with their first Nuclear Blast album, why not, instead of "Masquerade", to include "Moonchild Domain", which appears in the MCD "Godless Savage Garden", a pastiche made of "EDT" recording sessions leftovers? "Moonchild" is a monumental song, and it would have made "Enthrone" a thousand times better. Did Shagrath think "Masquerade" was actually a better song? Was he scared of not pleasing Cannibal Corpse fans with too much softness? Putting that junk in such a classic it's like having a beautiful BMW convertible, and adding, for aesthetic value, deer horns in its front.

Well, done is done. "Enthrone", even with that particular mistake, is a classic, and it established Dimmu Borgir as the best Black Metal band ever, and as my favorite band of all time.