It’s been over half a decade since Dimmu Borgir have released an album and I’m not counting the release of a live recording from 25 years ago. and while I initially thought this would be a rerecording of all the covers they had released previously, it would appear that this is a remastering, which in some cases has the original version sounding better… Or is that just nostalgic familiarity making it appear so? While I do have most of these, there are still a few exceptions which I’m only hearing for the first time now.
I guess the right place to start the album is with “Black Metal” as it pretty much encapsulates what they’ve been from the start, and they obviously have made their version far heavier and faster than the original, which was probably hard to imagine would ever be the case when Venom released it.
I’ve had “Satan My Master” as my ring tone since I was able to add it to a phone to be used as one, so every bloody time the song starts playing I automatically reach for my phone, but I guess this Bathory cover is at least 20 years old now and obviously one I hear all the time, so am not really going to wax lyrical about it.
This is my first-time hearing “Dead Men Don’t Rape”, probably because I’ve never heard of G.G.F.H. either, but even though there’s definitely an industrial edge to the song with plenty of electronic overtones, it actually sounds pretty good, as does the addition of Agnete Kjølsrud’s vocals to add the required acrimony to their deliver.
Celtic Frost’s “Nocturnal Fear” appears twice on the album, much like it does on the EP where it comes from and is definitely the oldest cover on this album.
“Burn in Hell” is definitely one of the best covers ever released and while I wasn’t familiar with Twisted Sister’s version until after hearing this version, I think their slowed down doomier interpretation is perfect, as are ICS Vortex’s clean vocals making Shagrath’s sound even more abrasive, especially during final chanting refrain.
I may have heard “Perfect Strangers” on stations that play Deep Purple but must admit that Gerlioz’s Keyboards have the require Moog sound, but with a touch of heaviness to their tone that complements Snowy Shaw’s clean vocals and let his bass line rumble beautifully behind the words.
I was listening to Accept before I knew I was into metal, I guess the intro to ‘Restless and Wild’ shall do that to a 12-year-old, but “Metal Heart” is the probably the song that captures the most essence of the original for me. Perhaps it’s the Bach in there that does it, but you can’t go wrong with either version really.
They wrap things up with the Celtically Processed version of “Nocturnal Fear”, which I must admit is my preferred version from ‘Devil’s Path’, and still has the raw energy from 25 years ago oozing through.
I actually quite like the fact that I now have all these songs in one place, and what’s better is having the few that I didn’t before too.
(8/10 Marco Gaminara)
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