Dimmu Borgir Grand Serpent Rising Review
Dimmu Borgir
Grand Serpent Rising
Nuclear Blast Records
2026
It’s been eight long years since Norwegian Symphonic Black Metal institution Dimmu Borgir last unleashed an album, and frankly, that’s criminal. Apparently, it was too long for longtime guitarist Galder too, considering he bailed to resurrect Old Man's Child full-time. Still, core masterminds Shagrath and Silenoz marched forward with a battalion of session players and studio mercenaries to deliver the band’s first record in nearly a decade: “Grand Serpent Rising”.
Anyone who reads my drivel already knows I’m not exactly the president of the Black Metal fan club, but some bands are simply impossible to resist. Dimmu sits firmly in that category alongside Cradle of Filth and Satyricon. I’ve heard all three dismissed as the “hipster” side of Black Metal, but honestly, who gives a shit? Either you like the music or you don’t. Just because a band didn’t record their album inside a moldy cave lit by goat skulls and bad intentions doesn’t mean it lacks authenticity. It just means it isn’t “kvlt” enough for the corpse-painted gatekeepers clutching their Darkthrone demos like sacred scrolls.
As for “Grand Serpent Rising”, this feels like a genuine return to form. Thankfully, it’s not another “Eonian”. The bloated orchestral overload and endless choirs that dragged that album down have been reined in considerably. The symphonic elements still loom large, but now they serve the riffs instead of smothering them. And the riffs are vicious. Razorwire tremolo runs, stomping grooves, and enough blast beats to level a cathedral all come ripping through the speakers without the album collapsing into noise for noise’s sake.
That balance has always been Dimmu Borgir’s greatest strength. They know exactly when to bludgeon you and when to pull back just enough to let the atmosphere breathe. That push-and-pull dynamic is what keeps me coming back to this band repeatedly. The melodies are massive, the hooks are everywhere, and the album carries the same grand, sinister swagger that made “Death Cult Armageddon” such a landmark release. Honestly, this is the closest the band has sounded to those glory days in years.
Production-wise, the album is an absolute monster. With Fredrik Nordström behind the boards, that should surprise nobody. Everything sounds enormous without becoming sterile or over-polished. The orchestration breathes, the guitars bite, and the drums hit like a battering ram crashing through church doors. More importantly, the record feels organic despite all its theatrical excess. It sounds lived-in, dangerous, and strangely familiar, like it’s been hiding in your collection for years waiting for the right moment to strike.
If I have one complaint, it’s the runtime. At over 70 minutes, this thing is a commitment, and for music this dense that can occasionally feel exhausting. There are moments where I found myself thinking, “Alright, you’ve successfully beaten me into submission, you can stop now.” Then again, I’ve reached that stage in life where I’d rather an album kick my teeth in for 35 minutes and leave me gasping on the floor than drag me through an endurance trial. Still, that’s a minor gripe in the grand scheme of things.
“Grand Serpent Rising” is a beast of an album and almost guaranteed to land in my year-end Top 10. It has to. This is Dimmu Borgir reminding everyone why they became giants in the first place. After eight years in the shadows, Shagrath and Silenoz have returned swinging with one of the band’s strongest and most engaging releases in the last two decades. Let’s just hope the next one doesn’t take another damn eternity to arrive.
Standouts – “Phantom Of The Nemesis”, “Ascent”, “Shadows Of A Thousand Perceptions”, “At The Precipice Of Convergence” and "Ulvgjeld & Blodsodel"