In the struggle against piracy Nuclear Blast have taken it to another level. The long awaited and for the label obviously very important new Dimmu Borgir album has been sent to the journalist on tape. A pity really because on tape, especially on ‘normal’ type, there’s a big loss of frequencies; especially in high and low the sound quality is quite weak. All I can say is that, for a tape it sounds promising. Whether the sound is any good on CD I can’t possibly say. You’ll have to check it for yourself before you buy the album. So, "What about the music!?" I hear you ask. Well, Dimmu Borgir have taken yet another leap forward. It’s not that there’s a huge difference in what we’re used to from these five-Scandinavians-and-one-Brit. It’s that they keep developing and expanding their idiom every album. The riffs on Death Cult Armageddon are unbelievably catchy, there’s even more bombast than on the ‘Misantropia’ album and most of all the songs are well wrought.

Somehow Dimmu Borgir manages to become more accessible and still keep their credibility. The accessibility means it’s all a little less extreme but to be honest, blast beats aren’t as impressive as they used to be. Good songwriting and getting the right feeling and atmosphere across is far more difficult. And that’s what makes Death Cult Armageddon so attractive; it’s intense without any tricks whatsoever. This album will appeal to a wider metal audience for sure and satisfy the long time fans as well. Although the latter might have problems getting their collection complete as Death Cult Armageddon is available on no less than seven different formats. And on tape of course…