''Spiritual Black Dimensions'' is the fourth studio album by Norwegian

black metal Black metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include fast tempos, a shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted guitars played with tremolo picking, raw (lo-fi) recording, unconventional song structures, and an emp ...

band

Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic, ...

. It was released in 1999 by

Nuclear Blast Records Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

. A

deluxe edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

was released in 2004 with bonus material. There is also a digipak edition of this album which contains no bonus tracks. The digipak has reflective/holographic cover art. This release featured keyboardist

Mustis Mustis is the pseudonym of Øyvind Johan Mustaparta (born 10 September 1979),https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Mustis/9297 a Norwegian keyboardist best known for his work in the symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir, as well as the blac ...

and the clean vocals of ICS Vortex, as well as the departure of long-time drummer

Tjodalv Tjodalv (born Ian Kenneth Åkesson in 1976) is a Norwegian drummer. He is a founding member of both Dimmu Borgir and Old Man's Child. He now plays in Black Comedy and Susperia. Tjodalv played guitar on the first Dimmu Borgir albums '' Inn i evi ...

, guitarist Astennu, and bassist Nagash. The album cover was part of the top 10 of Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers by ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary blender consists of a blender container with a rotating me ...

'' magazine.
It was inspired by ''

The Wounded Angel ''The Wounded Angel'' ( fi, Haavoittunut enkeli; sv, Sårad ängel; 1903) is a painting by Finnish symbolist painter Hugo Simberg. It is one of the most recognizable of Simberg's works, and was voted Finland's "national painting" in a vote held ...

'', a painting by Finnish artist

Hugo Simberg Hugo Gerhard Simberg (24 June 1873 – 12 July 1917) was a Finnish symbolist painter and graphic artist. Life and career Simberg was born on 24 June 1873, at Hamina (in the original Swedish: ''Fredrikshamn''), Finland, the son of Colonel Nico ...

Track listing

Reception

Steve Huey of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

stated that "Dimmu Borgir's arrangements continue to increase in complexity and sophistication on ''Spiritual Black Dimensions'', improving on its predecessors and illustrating the band's musical progression". In ''Slayer'' no. 13, Jon 'Metalion' Kristiansen called ''Spiritual Black Dimensions'' "a fine case of melodic, over-produced, symphonic metal. If you like this melodic style I can't really think of anyone doing it better �� No, I wouldn't call this black metal. Read the interview with

Funeral Mist Funeral Mist is a Swedish black metal band formed in Stockholm in 1993. To date, the band have released four full-length albums, three EPs and a compilation boxset. Since 2003, the band's sole permanent member has been Arioch, also known for his ...

for the right definition of black metal".''The Great Rock & Roll Swindle!''. In: Jon Kristiansen: ''Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries''. Brooklyn, NY: Bazillion Points Books 2011, p. 419.

Personnel

;Dimmu Borgir *

Shagrath Stian Tomt Thoresen (born 18 November 1976),Shagrath
at Encyclopaedia Metallum known professiona ...

– lead vocals *

Silenoz Silenoz (born Sven Atle Kopperud, 1 March 1977) is a Norwegian guitarist who is a founding member, along with Shagrath and Tjodalv, of the Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir of which he is the primary songwriter. He is also guita ...

– rhythm guitar * Astennu – lead guitar * Nagash – bass guitar, backing vocals *

– drums *

– keyboards ; Guests * ICS Vortex – clean vocals on tracks 1, 3, 7 and 9 ; Technical staff *

Peter Tägtgren Alf Peter Tägtgren (born 3 June 1970) is a Swedish musician, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. He is the founder, main songwriter, lead vocalist, and guitarist of death metal band Hypocrisy as well as the industrial metal band Pa ...

– mixing,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more speciali ...

, producer

References

{{Authority control Dimmu Borgir albums 1999 albums Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Peter Tägtgren