I have to confess, I am not the biggest fan of Dimmu Borgir. I really liked their “Enthrone Darkness Triumphant” album but lost track of them a little after that. Going back and listening to their earlier stuff was a good way to re-familiarise myself with their stuff so back in time to 1994’s “For All Tid” we go!
This isn’t bad music at all. The recording is a little rough as to be expected from an underground band and while I probably wouldn’t call them “Symphonic Black Metal” just yet, the hints are definitely there with some quite melodic arrangements and some pretty trippy keyboard underpinning virtually the whole album. Generally speaking I get where these dudes are coming from but personally I would have made the guitars a little louder as much of the songs get buried under the keyboard sound.
The entire album, lyrically is written in the bands native Norwegian. This means I can’t really give you much of an idea of where the band are at lyrically at this point. This is also a hard one to review track by track as it feels more like a soundscape rather than an album of individual tracks. This is one of those albums where id be more likely to turn it on whilst lying in bed and listen in complete darkness and just let the music take me away.
Over all I like this album. I don’t think its a classic and it’s a little undercooked. There’s hints of the brilliance the band would later project but this is more of an underground album and whilst not without its charm is definitely a band still in it’s embryonic phase.
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