Spiritual Black Dimensions
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Spiritual Black Dimensions is the fourth studio album by Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir. It was released in 1999 by Nuclear Blast Records. A deluxe edition was released in 2004 with bonus material.
This was Dimmu Borgir's first foray into speed-laden black metal, and since much of their old material was slower and more doomy in approach, reviews of this album are mixed, giving it a serious love-hate relationship. This was also the first album to feature new keyboardist Mustis and the clean vocals of ICS Vortex (who would later join the band full-time), as well as the departure of long-time drummer Tjodalv, guitarist Astennu, and bassist Nagash.
Much of the darker, faster direction could be attributed to guitarist Astennu, as the album Mirrored Hate Painting from his project Carpe Tenebrum show-cased the faster black metal style Dimmu Borgir would display on this album.
Track listing
- "Reptile" – 5:17
- "Behind the Curtains of Night - Phantasmagoria" – 3:18
- "Dreamside Dominions" – 5:13
- "United in Unhallowed Grace" – 4:21
- "The Promised Future Aeons" – 6:51
- "The Blazing Monoliths of Defiance" – 4:37
- "The Insight and the Catharsis" – 7:16
- "Grotesquery Conceiled (Within Measureless Magic)" – 5:10
- "Arcane Lifeforce Mysteria" – 7:03
- "Masses for the New Messiah" (Bonus Track) – 5:13
Personnel
- Shagrath - Vocals
- Erkekjetter Silenoz - Guitar
- Astennu - Lead Guitar
- Nagash - Bass, backing vocals
- Tjodalv - Drums
- Mustis - Synthesizers & Piano
- ICS Vortex - Clean vocals (On track 1,3,7,9)
- Peter Tagtgren - Producing
Notes
- There is also a digipak edition of this album wich contains no bonus tracks. The digipak has reflective/holographic coverart.
- The song "Grotesquery Conceiled" was played live when Dimmu Borgir won the Norwegian grammy award called spellemannsprisen in category metal in 1999. The band where supposed to play the song "The Insight and the Catharsis" with the symphony orchestra called "Kringkastings orkesteret", but they had to change the song because the orchestra denied to perform with Dimmu Borgir due to their "satanic" message. Later that night at the after party a Dimmu Borgir band member got in a fight with a member from the same orchestra.