Dimmu Borgir, KISS, Jello Biafra & ME!
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A while ago, "I implored you Metalhead Moggers out there to weigh in on Dimmu Borgir,":CH a Norwegian black metal band who some argue is one of the best bands in metal today.Overall your response was mixed. Some folks went as far as to say they liked Dimmu and think they're great, others just don't seem to have the palate for it. I think we all agreed these guys are one of the hardest working bands in metal.Myself? I wasn't too sure, so I decided to check out their live show. The following is my verdict: Dimmu Borgir played with Behemoth and Keep of Kalessin last Monday, April 14th at the Warfield in San Francisco. It was a last minute thing, my buddy had an extra ticket. We ended up missing the first two bands so I'm going to cut right to the chase. These guys know how to control the stage. Lead singer Shagrath came out wearing a dress, but it was more along the lines of Pinhead from Hellraiser than a Vera Wang. Not something you see everyday. "Click here to see for yourself":SDLet me elaborate what I mean when i say stage control. These guys come out with ghostly face paint, torches as props, decked out in ghastly inch long spikes all over their arms and legs, giving everyone in the audience a menacing ghoulish stares as if they're about to stick out a forked tongue through a guy's skull or something. They come out not as men, but as some type of unholy sirens singing the songs of sin and evil. 
It really is a trip checking them out live. Even if you're not into the music, which many people aren't, you still can get a kick out of the stage show and the corresponding mayhem in the mosh pit(which I saw more than a few guys come out of with bloodied faces).
Technically, they're really an amazing band. They're music is a blend of just straight up brutal metal at breakneck speeds with classical Norwegian folk melodies played on a synth which makes for a super eerie backdrop. These guys really do pound the hell(literally) out of their instruments, but they manage to play really beautiful and thoughtful melodies while doing so. To do what these guys do night after night has to be draining. Nobody can deny their abilities. 
But what does it all mean? The satanic symbolism, the Viking elements, the strange garb? What's their entire trip all about?I looked over and noticed that I was standing right next to Jello Biafra. I decided to ask him what he thought, because I was having a hard time digesting it all.
??Me and Jello in a really poor quality pic??Sturg: "Hey Jello, Who'd you come here to see tonight?"Biafra: "Dimmu Borgir"Sturg: "What do you think about metal, or rather this type of metal becoming more mainstream?"Biafra: "Auhhg(inaudible) yeah this stuff is really catching on."Sturg: "What did you think about the show tonight?"Biafra:"There were a lot of lights"(The venue was flooded with strobes, and other various light much like you see at big stadium shows, but these guys were kind of overdoing it)Biafra:"(continued) It was like a KISS show or something."Then it all started to make sense. Dimmu Borgir is all really just the Norwegian take on KISS! Think about it, it's all there: ??They're dangerous, scare your parents and nobody really understands them but you!??
So this is what KISS is in 2008? Overtly Satanic, extreme in every sense of the word, foreign and with much more menacing spikes. Maybe it is just that simple.[SD]http://www.baronsamedi.fr/images/004shagrath_ogrrr.jpg[CH]http://mog.com/Sturgell/blog_post/152204
It really is a trip checking them out live. Even if you're not into the music, which many people aren't, you still can get a kick out of the stage show and the corresponding mayhem in the mosh pit(which I saw more than a few guys come out of with bloodied faces).Technically, they're really an amazing band. They're music is a blend of just straight up brutal metal at breakneck speeds with classical Norwegian folk melodies played on a synth which makes for a super eerie backdrop. These guys really do pound the hell(literally) out of their instruments, but they manage to play really beautiful and thoughtful melodies while doing so. To do what these guys do night after night has to be draining. Nobody can deny their abilities. But what does it all mean? The satanic symbolism, the Viking elements, the strange garb? What's their entire trip all about?I looked over and noticed that I was standing right next to Jello Biafra. I decided to ask him what he thought, because I was having a hard time digesting it all.??Me and Jello in a really poor quality pic??Sturg: "Hey Jello, Who'd you come here to see tonight?"Biafra: "Dimmu Borgir"Sturg: "What do you think about metal, or rather this type of metal becoming more mainstream?"Biafra: "Auhhg(inaudible) yeah this stuff is really catching on."Sturg: "What did you think about the show tonight?"Biafra:"There were a lot of lights"(The venue was flooded with strobes, and other various light much like you see at big stadium shows, but these guys were kind of overdoing it)Biafra:"(continued) It was like a KISS show or something."Then it all started to make sense. Dimmu Borgir is all really just the Norwegian take on KISS! Think about it, it's all there: ??They're dangerous, scare your parents and nobody really understands them but you!??So this is what KISS is in 2008? Overtly Satanic, extreme in every sense of the word, foreign and with much more menacing spikes. Maybe it is just that simple.[SD]http://www.baronsamedi.fr/images/004shagrath_ogrrr.jpg[CH]http://mog.com/Sturgell/blog_post/152204
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