<\/p>\n No one then could have suspected that the makers of this embryonic three-track, keyboard-laden lament would go on to become the best-selling, and subsequently one of the most divisive, black metal bands of all time, but it was clear they were going to have to get used to being called sellouts from the start.<\/p>\n Latest Videos From Louder<\/p>\n We knew we would get flamed for signing to Nuclear Blast<\/p>\n Silenoz<\/p>\n Shagrath (real name Stian Thoresen) had formed Dimmu Borgir with fellow 17-year-olds Kenneth \u00c5kesson (aka Tjodalv) and Sven Atle Kopperud (aka Silenoz) a year earlier in the small town of Jessheim, 30 miles north of Oslo. Shagrath previously led his own teenage black metal band, Fimbulwinter, while his new bandmates had played in short-lived death metal groups before seeing the dark and switching musical allegiance.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was exciting times and dangerous times,\u201d says Silenoz now. \u201cWhen that stuff with the church burnings went down, we heard about people who were starting to wear knives and weapons, so we did the same. But if you were walking down the street in Oslo, the police would just stop you out of nowhere and search you because you were wearing black and fitted a certain description.\u201d<\/p>\n You may like<\/p>\n The band initially called themselves Dimmuborgir, after an area of lava fields and rock formations in northern Iceland whose name means \u2018dark castles\u2019.<\/p>\n \u201cWe wanted a name that suited the darkness and atmosphere of what we were doing,\u201d says Silenoz of the moniker, which was soon split into two words. \u201cI always said later that if we wanted to be more commercial, we would have taken a different name.\u201d<\/p>\n The trio\u2019s initial roles in the band were in flux: all three would play guitar and bass, Shagrath doubled up on drums, while Silenoz did the majority of the vocals with Shagrath occasionally pitching in. But they resolved early on that they were going to focus on the musical and spiritual side of black metal rather than scene politics \u2013 sowing the seeds of an ambitious drive that would come to define them later.<\/p>\n Inspired by the likes of Emperor, Enslaved and Gehenna, they realised what they really wanted were some keyboards to add to the dark atmosphere that had emerged from the rehearsals. Silenoz roped in his childhood neighbour, Stian Aarstad, to that end. However, in a precursor of issues to come, getting him properly integrated in the band would prove insurmountable.<\/p>\n \u201cHe hardly ever turned up at rehearsals,\u201d says Shagrath. \u201cIt was frustrating, creating melodies on keyboard was always as important as the guitar. But getting Stian to do anything was a fucking nightmare.\u201d<\/p>\n What to read next<\/p>\n Dimmu Borgir recorded their debut album, For All Tid, in 1994 and released it the following year, by which time they\u2019d been joined by bassist Brynjard Tristan. Reflecting the conditions in which it was rehearsed (\u201cIt was a freezing cold, damp warehouse and the equipment was really shit, but that\u2019s how you did it then,\u201d is Silenoz\u2019s recollection), its insular if evocative grimness remains a marker point for both a scene in total opposition to the world around it, and a band tentatively embarking on their own path.<\/p>\n The follow-up, Stormbl\u00e5st, once again featuring Silenoz on vocals, was released a year later. But the band\u2019s lack of experience \u2013 combined with their use of an engineer they didn\u2019t gel with \u2013 meant Dimmu were reaching the limits of what they could achieve, falling short of their ever-growing ambitions. Where they went next not only dramatically altered the fortunes of Dimmu Borgir, it changed the landscape of black metal itself.<\/p>\n Dimmu Borgir – Stormbl\u00e5st (Live In Poland 1998) Krakow HD Remastered – YouTube Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n Dimmu might have been frustrated by the discrepancy between their vision and the reality with Stormbl\u00e5st, but one person who saw the potential was Markus Staiger. The owner of increasingly influential German label Nuclear Blast, he\u2019d been following their progress and was looking to sign black metal bands to the label\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n \u201cWe knew we would get flamed for signing to Nuclear Blast,\u201d says Silenoz. \u201cBut they had a few other really good bands, so we thought, \u2018Why can\u2019t we?\u2019 We still had that underground mentality, but we knew that we just couldn\u2019t go ahead with that kind of behaviour anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n Their debut album for Nuclear Blast was 1997\u2019s Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. Produced by Hypocrisy frontman Peter T\u00e4gtgren<\/a>, it saw Shagrath moving to vocals, replaced on drums by Tjodalv, with Silenoz focusing on guitar. They were joined by new bassist\/guitarist Nagash who brought what Shagrath calls a \u201ccreative weirdness\u201d that helped broaden Dimmu\u2019s sound.<\/p>\n Drawing on everything from huge-scale classic composers such as Richard Wagner, Anton\u00edn Dvo\u0159\u00e1k and fellow Norwegian Edvard Grieg, to the vaulting goth rock of Fields Of The Nephilim, the album introduced a new level of bombast to black metal.<\/p>\n We never had any bad blood with Cradle Of Filth.<\/p>\n Silenoz<\/p>\n Its sonic scope took Dimmu out of the symphonic shadows of Cradle Of Filth and Emperor, and subsequently became the band\u2019s ornate calling card. Silenoz remembers being told at the time that their label boss, Markus Staiger, had gone apeshit in response to hearing tracks from it for the first time.<\/p>\n \u201cI immediately thought, \u2018Oh, he\u2019s pissed off,\u2019\u201d he recalls. \u201cBut I was told it was because he thought it was so good, and he put a ton of fucking money into the promotion campaign on that album.\u201d<\/p>\n Enthrone Darkness Triumphant arrived at a time when the black metal scene was in the throes of evolution. Between 1996 and 1997, many of its key bands released transformational albums, including Cradle Of Filth<\/a>, Emperor<\/a>, Satyricon, Enslaved, Arcturus and Sigh. Enthrone Darkness Triumphant eclipsed them all, going on to sell upwards of 300,000 copies. But their artistic success didn\u2019t come without some pushback, not least from other musicians.<\/p>\n \u201cI could sense the envy, for the lack of a better word,\u201d says Silenoz. \u201cBut it was also mixed with \u2018How the fuck did you do this?\u2019, because the sound was so polished compared to what everyone was known to listen to. They thought that probably we had sold our asses for a huge sum of money. That\u2019s when I noticed people starting to make up assumptions about how things were. And in hindsight, that\u2019s when people really started opening their mouths about what they thought.\u201d<\/p>\n Rumours circulated of a rivalry between Dimmu and Cradle Of Filth, with Cradle\u2019s Dani Filth supposedly taking umbrage at the Norwegians stealing his own band\u2019s thunder. Today, Shagrath and Silenoz are adamant that there was no beef.<\/p>\n \u201cWe never had any bad blood,\u201d Shagrath says of Cradle, with whom Dimmu had played a handful of shows in Germany just before Enthrone Darkness Triumphant was released. \u201cI remember I was quite impressed how actually professional they were, and they inspired us to sharpen our knives after that tour. Music has never been about competition for me. It\u2019s about being creative and the art aspects of it. There was some piss-taking, but nothing more than that.\u201d<\/p>\n Dani need not have worried. When both bands appeared at the 1997 Dynamo festival, Cradle played the main stage while Dimmu Borgir were stuck on a dedicated black metal stage alongside Satyricon and Dissection. But billing was the least of their worries that day.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were on the way to get the boat over,\u201d Shagrath recalls, \u201cand Stian Arstaad calls me saying, \u2018Hey, I can\u2019t make it.\u2019 He didn\u2019t get permission from his parents or he was going into the military or something, I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n Unwilling to tolerate anything less than total commitment, his bandmates were unimpressed and it marked the end of Stian\u2019s time in the band. Family commitments meant that founding member Tjodalv couldn\u2019t give himself fully to Dimmu\u2019s increased touring schedule, and he left shortly after the band\u2019s next album, 1999\u2019s Spiritual Black Dimensions. It was the start of a long-running drama of hirings and firings that ultimately consolidated Shagrath and Silenoz as the band\u2019s creative core.<\/p>\n \n (Image credit: Nihil Archive)<\/p>\n Spiritual Black Dimensions saw the introduction of Mustis on keyboards, and ICS Vortex as guest vocalist, later to become a full-time member taking on bass duties too. His impressively sky-razing howl would, for a time, become another signature part of their sound, and if \u2026Dimensions upped the theatricality even further, 2001\u2019s Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia brought in a full orchestra, as well as former Cradle Of Filth drummer Nick Barker and a new lead guitarist, Galder.<\/p>\n
\n![\"Dimmu](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1786297331_90_maxresdefault.jpg\")
<\/p>\n![\"Dimmu](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/tRbey2Wv7DrjmxswbVUJXV.jpg\")
\n<\/p>\n