Dimmu Borgir: Inspiratio Profanus (2023, Nuclear Blast)
Dimmu Borgir new compilation brings together the band’s best covers to date.
Dimmu Borgir is one of those symphonic black metal bands that you either love or hate, there seems to be no middle ground between fans of the genre. Since their formation in 1993, they have consecrated their status as a pioneering and experimental band in the ten studio albums that make up their entire discography, from their debut album For All Tid in 1995 to their most recent Eonian in 2018. Throughout their three decades of existence have explored the darker side of black metal incorporating symphonic elements reaching its peak in 2001 with the release of my favorite album, Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia.
2023 marks a new point in their extensive career with the publication of the compilation album Inspiratio Profanus, an album composed of eight covers of artists who have influenced its members over the years. Although it is not a standard work as such, since some of the covers included here had already been published on previous albums, we appreciate the fact that they have been combined all into one release with the excuse of releasing material to the market and, by the way, give us a very interesting cover. As a lover of covers in general, especially of rarities albums and singles that are increasingly released less and less in physical format, the fact of having a new artwork in my hands is an extra point.
As for the work itself, we find covers of very different bands, from Twisted Sister to Celtic Frost, with the occasional surprise that we find throughout the album itself, which unfortunately lasts just over half an hour. The totemic Black Metal of the British Venom is responsible for opening Inspiratio Profanus just as the same song does on the legendary 1982 album, offering a tremendous dose of fast black metal where Shagrath delivers one of his best works as a vocalist on this album. There aren’t many surprises throughout the album, although finding ICS Vortex and Hellhammer within the booklet is one of them. Obviously, those who are aware of the line-up changes will remember that both members were part of Dimmu Borgir throughout their career, although neither of them coincided during the periods they remained as members of Dimmu Borgir.
Bassist ICS Vortex appears in both the covers of Satan My Master by the masters Bathory and the dark Burn In Hell by Twisted Sister, the latter being where the also member of Borknagar and Arcturus is in charge of the clean vocals. Incidentally, Burn In Hell remains one of the best covers Dimmu Borgir has recorded to date. From the Americans Global Genocide Forget Heaven -or G.G.F.H.– we find Dead Men Don’t Rape, a song that goes by without any pain or glory but that doesn’t bother at all.
The highlight comes with Nocturnal Fear by my beloved Celtic Frost, one of the bands that has influenced great musicians and bands in the extreme metal scene over the years. This is one of the few songs on the album in which Shagrath is in charge of guitars and vocals, and the line-up is completed by Fredrik Nordström as guitarist, the aforementioned ICS Vortex on bass, and drummer Nick Barker. The sound of Dimmu Borgir in Nocturnal Fear, like the original Celtic Frost song, is quite dirty and much less refined, something that brings the listener closer to what the cover from which it is based in.
The second part is led by the aforementioned Burn In Hell and the surprising Perfect Strangers by Deep Purple, another of the album’s great bets. We had already heard the iconic Metal Heart by the Germans Accept previously in Godless Savage Garden (2018) as well as Burn In Hell, so there is little to say except that Shagrath‘s keyboards make this legendary song even bigger. The album closes with the second cover of Nocturnal Fear by Celtic Frost, very similar to the one found on the first side but with an even dirtier and underground sound, this time without ICS Vortex in the lineup.
In summary, Inspiratio Profanus is an album that adds little to his discography but serves as an appetizer until Dimmu Borgir releases his next studio album. This is one of those albums that is worth buying for its cover and for the simple decision to bring together some of the most interesting covers that the band led by Shagrath and Silenoz have recorded to date.
