Spiritual Black Dimensions is the fourth studio album by Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir. It was released in 1999 by Nuclear Blast Records. A deluxe edition was released in 2004 with bonus material. There is also a digipak edition of this album which contains no bonus tracks. The digipak has reflective/holographic cover art. This release featured keyboardist Mustis and the clean vocals of ICS Vortex, as well as the departure of long-time drummer Tjodalv, guitarist Astennu, and bassist Nagash.
| Spiritual Black Dimensions | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 2 March 1999 | |||
| Recorded | August–October 1998 at Abyss Studio | |||
| Genre | Symphonic black metal | |||
| Length | 49:14 | |||
| Label | Nuclear Blast | |||
| Producer | Dimmu Borgir, Peter Tägtgren | |||
| Dimmu Borgir chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   [1] |
The album cover was part of the top 10 of Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers by Blender magazine in 2006.[2] It was inspired by The Wounded Angel, a painting by a Finnish symbolist artist Hugo Simberg.
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Lyrics | Music | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Reptile" | Silenoz | 5:17 | |
| 2. | "Behind the Curtains of Night - Phantasmagoria" | Silenoz | 3:21 | |
| 3. | "Dreamside Dominions" | Silenoz | 5:14 | |
| 4. | "United in Unhallowed Grace" | Nagash | 4:22 | |
| 5. | "The Promised Future Aeons" | Nagash | 6:52 | |
| 6. | "The Blazing Monoliths of Defiance" | Nagash | Shagrath | 4:38 |
| 7. | "The Insight and the Catharsis" | Silenoz | Shagrath | 7:17 |
| 8. | "Grotesquery Conceiled (Within Measureless Magic)" | Silenoz | 5:10 | |
| 9. | "Arcane Lifeforce Mysteria" | Silenoz, Nagash, Shagrath | 7:03 |
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 10. | "Masses for the New Messiah" | 5:11 |
Reception
editSteve Huey of AllMusic stated that "Dimmu Borgir's arrangements continue to increase in complexity and sophistication on Spiritual Black Dimensions, improving on its predecessors and illustrating the band's musical progression".[1] In Slayer no. 13, Jon 'Metalion' Kristiansen called Spiritual Black Dimensions "a fine case of melodic, over-produced, symphonic metal. If you like this melodic style I can't really think of anyone doing it better […]. No, I wouldn't call this black metal. Read the interview with Funeral Mist for the right definition of black metal".[3]
Personnel
edit- Dimmu Borgir
- Shagrath – lead vocals
- Silenoz – rhythm guitar
- Astennu – lead guitar
- Nagash – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Tjodalv – drums
- Mustis – keyboards
- Guests
- ICS Vortex – clean vocals on tracks 1, 3, 7 and 9
- Technical staff
- Peter Tägtgren – mixing, engineering, producer
References
edit- ^ a b Steve Huey: Spiritual Black Dimensions - Dimmu Borgir.
- ^ [1] Archived May 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
- ^ The Great Rock & Roll Swindle!. In: Jon Kristiansen: Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries. Brooklyn, NY: Bazillion Points Books 2011, p. 419.