Defective and Weak - "For All Tid" Review (0%)
Dimmu Borgir is one of the modern commercial black metal projects that truly embody the controversality of the style.
It's both praised and panned for the very fundamental characteristics that define the style: poor musicianship, extremely generic riffs, nu-metal songwriting and a total lack of atmosphere.
Commercial black metal quite often seems to put aside all attempts at creating atmospheric and transcending music, opting instead to play a bastardised form of "pop" metal devoid of any atmosphere whatsoever.
I guess you can call it "catchy", in the sense that Justin Bieber is catchy.
But black metal it is not, and especially not in the case of Dimmu's defective debut album "For All Tid", as said album appears to be little more than a forced, desperate effort to release something commercial.
If "For All Tid" stands out in the Norwegian black metal scene it's only due to the album's particularly low level of quality.
While true black metal bands were busy releasing masterpieces such as albums like "Divine Necromancy", "Under a Funeral Moon" or even raw insanities like "Satanic Requiem", Dimmu Borgir chose the route of mainstream supplication with the turd "For All Tid".
"For All Tid" is difficult to analyse in depth, as it mostly lacks any atmosphere genuinely worth mentioning, and considering that black metal music is (supposed to be) all about atmosphere, this is quite the defect if you will.
What Dimmu Borgir has used to get around this musical nothingness is formulaic and imitative songwriting.
The melodies that are supposed to convey angst and unease, even terror, are about as scary as a 9 year old kid's Halloween costume: corny and cliché, almost as if they were aimed to appear silly in some sort of Youtube black metal parody.
"For All Tid" is as defective as it is commercial as it is weak.
There is no other word to describe this so-called music.
Defective and Weak
As for atmosphere, that's where this album "For All Tid" falls apart most remarkably.
What makes black metal music truly atmospheric was the imaginative and unique sound.
Simple and even accessible melodies, such as those found on early Darkthrone or Antekhrist, manage to convey strong emotions to the listener.
The sound on this album, however, fails to convey anything but ridicule.
A few points before I continue.
1) True black metal lasts forever.
2) Average black metal gets old with repeated listening.
3) But "For All Tid" was old before it was even released.
Rather than being inspired and genuine, this album sounds very over-exaggerated to the point of sounding like an abhorrent parody of everything black metal is supposed to stand for.
"For All Tid" is black metal made into a marketing product: it's stripped of all artistic elements and tailored specifically to appeal to pseudo-rebellious teenager who hate their parents as much as they hate good music.
Some will claim that it's not as bad as Dimmu Borgir most infamous turd "Enthrone Darkness Triumphant".
Bullshit, it all sounds like the same crap.
If anything, this Dimmu Borgir album succeeds at being genuinely misanthropic.
It makes fun of all the posers that bought this piece of retardation, and it mocks the entire concept of supermarket black metal.
"For All Tid" is genuinely worthless and a waste of space and time, hopefully to be forgotten.
For All Tid score: 0/100.
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