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

symphonic black metal Symphonic black metal is a subgenre of black metal that emerged in the 1990s and incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements. History One of the earliest forerunners in what would come to be the sound of symphonic metal was Celtic Frost ...

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 lang ...

. It was released in 1999 by

Nuclear Blast Records Nuclear Blast Records is a German record label with subsidiary, subsidiaries located in Germany, the United States and Brazil. It was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Donzdorf. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label moved on ...

. It is a first release featuring keyboardist Mustis and the clean vocals of

ICS Vortex Simen Hestnæs (born 4 March 1974), better known by his stage name ICS Vortex or simply Vortex, is a Norwegian musician. He is the vocalist of the similarly named band ICS Vortex, the avant-garde metal band Arcturus (band), Arcturus and the doom ...

, and the last one with long-time drummer

Tjodalv Ian Kenneth Åkesson (born 1976), known professionally as Tjodalv, is a Norwegian drummer. He is a founding member of the black metal bands Dimmu Borgir and Old Man's Child. He now plays in Black Comedy and Susperia. Tjodalv played guitar on th ...

, guitarist Astennu, and bassist Nagash. The album marks major compositional and stylistic shift from romantic influences of their previous albums to more sinister and macabre sound. In terms of production, it is a second consecutive full-length Dimmu Borgir album recorded and produced in Abyss Studio, Sweden by

Peter Tägtgren Alf Peter Tägtgren (born 3 June 1970) is a Swedish musician 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 Pain in which he is the only m ...

. According to the band, they faced difficulties when mixing the record due too many recorded layers, hence two different versions of the album were mixed in the studio. Eventually the second one was released. During the actual recording session, Astennu also recorded

Mirrored Hate Painting ''Mirrored Hate Painting'' is the second studio album by the Norwegian black metal band ''Carpe Tenebrum''. It was recorded in winter 1998 at ''The Abyss (recording studio), The Abyss Studio'' and released in 1999 through ''Hammerheart Records, Ka ...

, a second album of his side project

Carpe Tenebrum Carpe Tenebrum (incorrectly, "Seize the Darkness" in Latin) was a black metal solo project of the former Dimmu Borgir and The Kovenant, Covenant guitarist Astennu (musician), Jamie Stinson, better known as Astennu. Stian Arnesen (Nagash) was als ...

with Nagash on vocals in Abyss Studio B, which was run by Tommy Tägtgren, Peter's brother. A

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

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. The album cover was part of the top 10 of Greatest Heavy Metal Album Covers by ''

Blender A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...

'' magazine in 2006.
It was inspired by '' The Wounded Angel'', a painting by a Finnish symbolist artist

Hugo Simberg Hugo Gerhard Simberg (24 June 1873 – 12 July 1917) was a Finland, Finnish Symbolism (movement), symbolist painter and graphic artist. Life and career Simberg was born on 24 June 1873, at Hamina (), Finland, the son of Colonel Nicolai Simberg ...

Track listing

Reception

Steve Huey of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

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 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 symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir, of which he is the primary songwriter. He is also guitarist fo ...

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

– drums * Mustis – keyboards ; Guests *

– clean vocals on tracks 1, 3, 7 and 9 ; Technical staff *

– mixing,

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, producer

References

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