DIMMU BORGIR's Upcoming Album Is 'A Mixture Of Everything,' Says SHAGRATH

Vocalist Shagrath (real name: Stian Tomt Thoresen) of Norwegian symphonic black metallers DIMMU BORGIR spoke to Antihero about the band's long-awaited follow-up to 2010's "Abrahadabra" album, tentatively due before the end of the year via Nuclear Blast. He said: "I can't go really into details, but what I can say about it is that we have used now three years to make a new album. It's just finished right now, actually, so the plan is that it will be out during fall. These days we do the preparation in connection with that release. If I can say something about the album, it will be that we are very proud of it, it sounds great, it's very atmospheric, and it also includes a lot of the elements which DIMMU BORGIR are known for, so I think the fans will not be disappointed. It also includes a lot of themes and riff ideas that you can link back to '93. So, it's like a combination of different themes throughout the history of DIMMU BORGIR. It also has a lot of symphonic elements and we are using a big choir on this new record, and it's also darker, more atmospheric, more primitive, more black metal. Yeah, a mixture of different things, basically.

Shagrath elaborated on the musical direction of the new DIMMU BORGIR album, saying it's "a mixture of everything, but in DIMMU BORGIR you can expect the unexpected. That's how we like to, when we do something we want to, there is no limits for where we can take it, in which direction, and that's how we want it to be, it needs to be. It's progressive also, the new album, but it also includes a lot of atmosphere, as I said. Elements from like the riff atmospheres from 'Enthrone Darkness Triumphant' [1997] album and the 'For All Tid' [1995], the debut record, and all that stuff. So, it's a good combination of it all, but at the same time, it's also progressive, and that's very important for us as artists to stretch the limits and try out new stuff. We are a band, we have never been afraid of going into new directions and as an artist, it's also important to not try to repeat yourself too much, because then it would be boring. But we are not a band like AC/DC, where you buy an album and you know what to expect. But DIMMU BORGIR are quite different, even though I'm a fan of AC/DC."

DIMMU BORGIR's new DVD, "Forces Of The Northern Night", was released on April 14 via Nuclear Blast. The set contains two of the band's live performances: their legendary show in Oslo, presenting DIMMU BORGIR on stage with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and a bombastic choir, as well as their entire performance at Wacken Open Air festival in 2012 in Wacken, Germany with almost a hundred musicians on stage.

DIMMU BORGIR's most recent touring lineup included Geir Bratland (APOPTYGMA BERZERK, THE KOVENANT) on keyboards and Terje Andersen (a.k.a. Cyrus; SUSPERIA) on bass.