LISTED: 30 Best Albums of the Last Decade (2000 - 2009)
*As the year 2010 is about to draw its curtain close, it is the time of the year (of any year) for many music sites and blogs to come up with a top list of albums of the year. Yes indeed the year 2010 has seen many interesting releases worthy of at least a top 20 list. But here at The Genuine Mind Zine we decided to do things a bit different and take a look at some of the best (of the best) releases throughout the last decade. This may not be the most comprehensive list around, lack of hip hop records for one, but all the albums listed here are indeed the most precious of last decade's precious gems.
26. Dimmu Borgir - Death Cult Armageddon (2003)
OK so first of all, a frank admission: not the biggest fan of metal music. I do listen to a smattering few metal bands but then that's it. Other names whom I reckon are the true heavyweights within the metal circle might not be available in my list of preference - hence Dimmu Borgir. Second of all, I may not be the biggest fan of metal but some of my friends do, and I have this feeling, a sense that somehow DB is just one Hell of a joke band. Or if they are not funny then they are just a bunch of bastards. Whichever works - and I might agree on that one too. Largely because for one, some people (or was it the band themselves, I don't know) claimed that they play black metal, to use the term in its' vaguest sense. Or to play it safe among the black metal purists, they call it symphonic black metal. Or because since they have sort of become the standard template for many later Scandinavian metal bands, they called it Scandinavian black metal. Which is too long a name actually considering it could have been called 'It's Shit, Really'.
Now, I promise I won't spend two third of this entry bashing this band, saying why it's not black metal, or heck why it is not even metal at all, but here's a final parting shot. Four years ago, I watched this amazing documentary produced by NRK (if I'm not mistaken) on black metal, and in that documentary, they interviewed musicians who are involved in the movement, telling the audience the history behind the development of the genre, what are their concerns and what are they fighting for, the inner turmoil within the movement and within band members - the lot. It was an eye-opening documentary for me because for once, I actually understood what black metal is, and so I can safely say that, to be with the black metal purists, Dimmu Borgir are just a bunch of pussies.
However, and that's a very big however there, there is a very good reason as to why Death Cult Armageddon made it into this list of the best album of the previous decade - it is highly entertaining. Now, I'll make it clear once again, yes, in my eyes, DB is like a comic relief in an otherwise a very serious movie. You don't take them seriously. You will never take them seriously. But then again, in a very serious movie, a comic relief brings much needed uh, relief. You know that this character is bound to do something stupid and in fact you actually quietly hoped that they would do something stupid, just to draw some laughter from you, to ease the pressure that is mounting from the rising action in the plot. You know that they are an unimportant character and is not at all central to the whole action, but without realizing it, they actually enliven the whole movie. They actually make the movie a pleasurable experience. This comic relief, is Dimmu Borgir, and what a real huge, gigantic, enormous blast they did when they released this epic operatic piece.
For me, listening to DB is not about song craftsmanship, and it's a fact that the band knows. They know that their strength is not in song writing, but in creating atmosphere because they know how to use a whole symphony arrangement to their advantage. They know that when people listen to DB, they're not in it for memorable melody, or delicious guitar solo. So in 2003, what they did was not release an album, but an atomic bomb. The whole album was too over-the-top in its' theatrical atmospheric, it borders on absurdity - and actually that was a good thing. Because they are doing what they are very good at, perfectly. You listen to the album, come out of it thinking that the whole universe is about to explode very soon; that the Norse Gods in the heaven are having a war in a space jet, shooting laser rays; that the sun is about to melt and harden back again into a rock the shape of Shagrath 10 million feet high - just because it was too awesome. Play this album in your iPod quietly while browsing for books in the library, and the book shelf will explode to pieces - just because it was too fucking awesome.
And I personally liked the third track, "Lepers Among Us", because the song would suddenly turn dramatic for no obvious reason. It just has to be dramatic, because it's the Dimmu Borgir we're talking here that's why. I am totally in love. There can never be any other album that is way more awesome than this (on the strength of its' dramatic-ness).
*As the year 2010 is about to draw its curtain close, it is the time of the year (of any year) for many music sites and blogs to come up with a top list of albums of the year. Yes indeed the year 2010 has seen many interesting releases worthy of at least a top 20 list. But here at The Genuine Mind Zine we decided to do things a bit different and take a look at some of the best (of the best) releases throughout the last decade. This may not be the most comprehensive list around, lack of hip hop records for one, but all the albums listed here are indeed the most precious of last decade's precious gems.
26. Dimmu Borgir - Death Cult Armageddon (2003)
OK so first of all, a frank admission: not the biggest fan of metal music. I do listen to a smattering few metal bands but then that's it. Other names whom I reckon are the true heavyweights within the metal circle might not be available in my list of preference - hence Dimmu Borgir. Second of all, I may not be the biggest fan of metal but some of my friends do, and I have this feeling, a sense that somehow DB is just one Hell of a joke band. Or if they are not funny then they are just a bunch of bastards. Whichever works - and I might agree on that one too. Largely because for one, some people (or was it the band themselves, I don't know) claimed that they play black metal, to use the term in its' vaguest sense. Or to play it safe among the black metal purists, they call it symphonic black metal. Or because since they have sort of become the standard template for many later Scandinavian metal bands, they called it Scandinavian black metal. Which is too long a name actually considering it could have been called 'It's Shit, Really'.
Now, I promise I won't spend two third of this entry bashing this band, saying why it's not black metal, or heck why it is not even metal at all, but here's a final parting shot. Four years ago, I watched this amazing documentary produced by NRK (if I'm not mistaken) on black metal, and in that documentary, they interviewed musicians who are involved in the movement, telling the audience the history behind the development of the genre, what are their concerns and what are they fighting for, the inner turmoil within the movement and within band members - the lot. It was an eye-opening documentary for me because for once, I actually understood what black metal is, and so I can safely say that, to be with the black metal purists, Dimmu Borgir are just a bunch of pussies.
However, and that's a very big however there, there is a very good reason as to why Death Cult Armageddon made it into this list of the best album of the previous decade - it is highly entertaining. Now, I'll make it clear once again, yes, in my eyes, DB is like a comic relief in an otherwise a very serious movie. You don't take them seriously. You will never take them seriously. But then again, in a very serious movie, a comic relief brings much needed uh, relief. You know that this character is bound to do something stupid and in fact you actually quietly hoped that they would do something stupid, just to draw some laughter from you, to ease the pressure that is mounting from the rising action in the plot. You know that they are an unimportant character and is not at all central to the whole action, but without realizing it, they actually enliven the whole movie. They actually make the movie a pleasurable experience. This comic relief, is Dimmu Borgir, and what a real huge, gigantic, enormous blast they did when they released this epic operatic piece.
For me, listening to DB is not about song craftsmanship, and it's a fact that the band knows. They know that their strength is not in song writing, but in creating atmosphere because they know how to use a whole symphony arrangement to their advantage. They know that when people listen to DB, they're not in it for memorable melody, or delicious guitar solo. So in 2003, what they did was not release an album, but an atomic bomb. The whole album was too over-the-top in its' theatrical atmospheric, it borders on absurdity - and actually that was a good thing. Because they are doing what they are very good at, perfectly. You listen to the album, come out of it thinking that the whole universe is about to explode very soon; that the Norse Gods in the heaven are having a war in a space jet, shooting laser rays; that the sun is about to melt and harden back again into a rock the shape of Shagrath 10 million feet high - just because it was too awesome. Play this album in your iPod quietly while browsing for books in the library, and the book shelf will explode to pieces - just because it was too fucking awesome.
And I personally liked the third track, "Lepers Among Us", because the song would suddenly turn dramatic for no obvious reason. It just has to be dramatic, because it's the Dimmu Borgir we're talking here that's why. I am totally in love. There can never be any other album that is way more awesome than this (on the strength of its' dramatic-ness).
Labels: 30 Best Albums of the Last Decade (2000 - 2009), dimmu borgir
posted by Hafeez at 2:44 AM
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