In Sorte Diaboli

Last updated
In Sorte Diaboli
In Sorte Diaboli.jpg
Cover art by Joachim Luetke
Studio album by
Dimmu Borgir
Released23 April 2007
RecordedOctober–December 2006
Studio Studio Fredman
Genre Symphonic black metal
Length47:26
Label Nuclear Blast
Producer Dimmu Borgir, Fredrik Nordström
Dimmu Borgir chronology
Stormblåst MMV
(2005)		In Sorte Diaboli
(2007)		 The Invaluable Darkness
(2008)
Singles from In Sorte Diaboli
  1. "The Serpentine Offering"
    Released: 30 March 2007
  2. "The Sacrilegious Scorn"
    Released: 2007
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
About.com Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [1]
Allmusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]
Blabbermouth Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svg [3]
Kerrang! Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg[ citation needed ]
Metal Hammer Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg[ citation needed ]
Verdens Gang 6/6 [4]

In Sorte Diaboli (Latin for "In league with the devil") is the seventh studio album by Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir, released in 2007. It is the band's first concept album. A site on the Nuclear Blast website was created for In Sorte Diaboli, in which a new promotional photo can be seen and an audio sample can be heard. This would be the last album by Dimmu Borgir to feature ICS Vortex, Hellhammer and Mustis.

Contents

Concept

In Sorte Diaboli is the band's first concept album, with a story located in medieval Europe. It is about a priest who begins to doubt his faith, and then ends up taking the place of the Antichrist. "There's this dude that works as a priest's assistant, and after a while he just discovers that he has nothing to do with Christianity", Silenoz says. "He just sort of has this awakening and realizes that he has different abilities and different powers and is leaning more to the dark side." The words "In Sorte Diaboli" are a repeated line in the song "The Chosen Legacy" and the words also appears towards the end of the song, "The Sinister Awakening". The conclusion of the story in the booklet implies that the story of In Sorte Diaboli is not yet finished. This remains to be seen, as their next album, Abrahadabra, is heavily influenced by Aleister Crowley's Thelema text The Book of the Law . IGN named the album the Top Metal Album of 2007.

Critical reception

In Sorte Diaboli received generally positive critical reception. Allmusic gave the album 3 stars [2] and praised the music, saying "[T]here's really great stuff here in the music, the production, in the sound effects". However they criticised the concept and lyrics of the album, writing "Too bad it all melts down when it comes to the concept, which is ho hum at best". About.com was more positive and gave the album [1] 4 stars and wrote that "[T]he songs are orchestral and melodic, but still plenty of punch and darkness". Both Blabbermouth and Metal Hammer gave the album 9/10, and Kerrang! gave it 4/5.

The album cover was rated by LA Weekly 9 out of 25 from their article The 25 Creepiest Heavy Metal Album Covers. [5]

Chart and sales performance

In their native Norway, the album peaked at number 1, which marks the first time in history of a black metal band reaching the number 1 spot. [6] The album sold approximately 14,000 copies in its first week. [7] The album also sold well in Sweden, Finland, Austria and Switzerland. [8]

RegionChart
(2007)		Peak PositionNotes
United States Billboard 200
#43 [7]
Dimmu Borgir is the first Norwegian band to break the U.S. Top 50 since a-ha. [9]
Billboard Top Independent Albums
#2 [10]
Norway
#1 [9]
UK Banned
–
In Sorte Diaboli was disqualified twice by The Official UK Charts Company. The first disqualification was for the inclusion of a mirror inside the Digipack; the second was because the album included a flyer promoting a "meet the band" competition. [8]

Track listing

All songs written by Shagrath, Silenoz and Galder. All lyrics written by Silenoz.

No.TitleLength
1."The Serpentine Offering"5:09
2."The Chosen Legacy"4:16
3."The Conspiracy Unfolds"5:24
4."The Sacrilegious Scorn"3:58
5."The Fallen Arises" (Instrumental)2:59
6."The Sinister Awakening"5:09
7."The Fundamental Alienation"5:17
8."The Invaluable Darkness"4:44
9."The Foreshadowing Furnace"5:50
Vinyl Edition with bonus 7"
No.TitleLength
1."The Ancestral Fever"5:51
2."The Heretic Hammer"5:09
Digibook Edition
No.TitleLength
1."The Serpentine Offering"5:09
2."The Chosen Legacy"4:16
3."The Conspiracy Unfolds"5:24
4."The Ancestral Fever" (exclusive European Bonus Track)5:51
5."The Sacrilegious Scorn"3:58
6."The Fallen Arises" (Instrumental)2:59
7."The Sinister Awakening"5:09
8."The Fundamental Alienation"5:17
9."The Invaluable Darkness"4:44
10."The Foreshadowing Furnace"5:50
Digibook Edition bonus DVD
No.TitleLength
1."The Serpentine Offering" (video)4:54
2."Making of the Album with Dimmu Borgir" (Studio Report) 
3."Making Of "The Serpentine Offering" video with Dimmu Borgir" 
4."Photogallery" 
Leather Book Edition
No.TitleLength
1."The Serpentine Offering"5:09
2."The Chosen Legacy"4:16
3."The Conspiracy Unfolds"5:24
4."The Ancestral Fever" (exclusive European Bonus Track)5:51
5."The Sacrilegious Scorn"3:58
6."The Fallen Arises" (Instrumental)2:59
7."The Heretic Hammer" (exclusive Bonus Track for this Mailorder Edition)4:37
8."The Sinister Awakening"5:09
9."The Fundamental Alienation"5:17
10."The Invaluable Darkness"4:44
11."The Foreshadowing Furnace"5:50
Leather Book Edition bonus disk
No.TitleLength
1."Black Metal" (Venom cover)3:22
2."The Heretic Hammer"4:37
3."The Ancestral Fever"5:51
4."The Serpentine Offering" (video)4:54

Personnel

Dimmu Borgir
Technical

Special editions

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References

  1. 1 2 Bowar, Chris. "Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli review". About.com: Heavy Metal. About.com. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  2. 1 2 Jurek, Thom. "In Sorte Diaboli Review". Allmusic. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  3. ↑ Alisoglu, Scott (23 April 2007). "Dimmu Borgir – In Sorte Diaboli (Nuclear Blast)". Blabbermouth.net. Roadrunner Records. Archived from the original on 21 February 2013. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  4. ↑ Østbø, Stein (26 April 2007). "Dimmu Borgir: "In Sorte Diaboli"". Verdens Gang. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  5. ↑ Roche, Jason (2012-10-22). "The 25 Creepiest Heavy Metal Album Covers". LA Weekly . Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  6. ↑ "Dimmu Borgir Debut At #1 In Norway, Banned From UK Chart". metalunderground.com. Retrieved 2018-02-23.
  7. 1 2 Katie Hasty, "Lavigne Remains No. 1 As Joe Debuts High", Billboard.com, May 2, 2007.
  8. 1 2 "Dimmu Borgir Debut At #1 In Norway, Banned From UK Chart". MetalUnderground.com. 10 May 2007. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  9. 1 2 Asbjørn Slettemark (8 May 2007). "It's Official: Dimmu Borgir Is First Black Metal Band To Top Norwegian Album Chart". Blabbermouth.net. Roadrunner Records. Archived from the original on 31 January 2009. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  10. ↑ "In Sorte Diaboli - Billboard Charts". Allmusic. Retrieved 7 February 2010.
  11. ↑ Dimmu Borgir - New Album Track List Revealed + Other Details About The Album - Metal Storm
  12. ↑ Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli Archived 2010-05-30 at the Wayback Machine
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