First official Post - Dimmu Borgir - Abrahadabra Review

This is Dimmu Borgir's ninth studio album, and although they have had a lot of line-up changes and other transitions through-out their career they have kept it going strong.  I got in to DB real heavy when they released In Sorte Diaboli in 2007.  I thought that was a really great record, and I couldn't wait for their next one to come out after hearing that one.  Hellhammer is one of the greatest drummers in metal right now by far.  Some would say that Abrahadabra is a disappointment because of the big changes you can hear on the record.  They lost I.C.S. Vortex and his clean vocals that were one of the selling points for In Sorte.  They also lost Hellhammer which was huge on that record as well.  So you would think that this effort would fall so short of In Sorte for me.  That was not the case.  What they lacked in speed with Hellhammer, and vocals with Vortex they made up for by having a huge symphonic sound instead of the generic keyboard sound that they had before.  They had a full 100 person orchestra perform on this record which makes the sound that much more epic.  Shagrath of course still brings top notch vocals, and the guitar work is still very good.  Their are some very catchy riffs on this record for instance the first track Born Treacherous, and Renewal.  So although there are some major changes on this record I still think it is by far one of the great metal releases of 2010.  I gave this record a 10.  I really recommend this record if you are in to Symphonic Death Metal.  If you really aren't able to get away from In Sorte Diaboli than you might not like this one as much, but none the less it is still worthy of at least an 8 from that standard.