Dimmu Borgir – Grand Serpent Rising

Metalcatto

Not many bands have disappointed me like Dimmu Borgir. It’s been decades since I truly enjoyed one of their albums. In fact, I was thinking of ignoring Grand Serpent Rising, but then I recalled this is a big band, and we love chasing clout around here. Anyway, let’s see if this thing is worth our time or if it’s going to be another Eonian.

Alright, can it be? How is this possible? The album doesn’t suck. Sure, it’s not that Black Metal anymore. It does feel like a lighter take on Carach Angren, but there’s more complexity here. The tracks really take you on a necromantic, epic, dark, and even beautiful journey. It feels at times as if someone took 90s Black and Folk Metal with synths and actually put some serious money into the production. I guess Dimmu Borgir would be the band with some type of budget. Well, the band feels reenergized. The symphonic elements don’t overwhelm the mix, and the songs breathe in ways they haven’t in years.

Something that’s not new but still gets to me is how comfortable Dimmu Borgir is with mid-tempo work. There’s nothing too furious going on here. It’s all layers and details working together to create this sense of diabolical grandeur. If anything, the album is subtle in the way it delivers its action—a far cry from the really old Dimmu Borgir. The pacing allows the atmosphere to develop without rushing, and the vocals sit in a comfortable pocket between theatrical and sinister.

Now, there are a few things that frustrate me here. It’s not just how crazy long the album is—it’s varied enough, so length isn’t the real issue. Maybe it’s the production, but the riffs lack that crusty, piercing tone a band like Immortal or Emperor could bring to the table. The writing is interesting, but I’m left feeling Dimmu Borgir could have made this an Album of the Year contender if it were properly aggressive. Less symphonic indulgence and more raw Black Metal bite would have elevated it significantly.

The band just needed to get back to the nonsense three-word rule—the one that inspired this blog’s name. Dimmu Borgir isn’t changing its sound entirely, but Grand Serpent Rising is a ridiculous improvement over its recent output. It will compete for the comeback of the year title because I can’t think of another band I had less faith in that surprised me this much. It’s not perfect, but it’s proof that even old, bloated symphonic giants can still deliver something worth hearing.

Label: Nuclear Blast Records

Release date: May 22th, 2026

Website: https://www.facebook.com/dimmuborgir

Country: Norway

Score: 3.3/5.0