Not to be confused with the underrated 1973 Styx album "The Serpent is Rising"

Admittedly – and as should surprise no regular readers – it's been a while since I caught up with Dimmu Borgir. Saw them on the tour for 2007's "In Sorte Diaboli"; can't remember anything from the album, though. Saw them at Wacken 2012 with a symphony orchestra and at Brutal Assault the same year without one – the latter show being far superior for that same reason. In fact, the most Dimmu Borgir-like thing I've done in recent years was to visit the actual place in Iceland called Dimmuborgir.

Anyway. Given the apparently lukewarm reception of the last many studio albums – at least judging by the reviews on Metal Archives – we may be dealing with a sort of comeback here.

While I'm supposing that DB never strayed from the symphonic direction they took with 2001's ingeniously titled "Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia", exactly the orchestral and bombastic elements stand out already from the intro, grieving Minor-key cellos and violins accompanied bye a swell of rain and storm. It's already pure, cinematic pathos. But then, enter a narration by what seems like a 20+ level wizard, hitting level shameless:

"WE MAY NEVER TAME THE VERY BEAST THAT DWELLETH WITHIN
FROM LUMINOUS FIRE, THE GLORY AND DANGER ALIKE"

But as "Ascent" blasts in the gates with exactly that – a furious blast beat, along with savage tremolo riffing, nasty chord extensions, and a monstrously deep growl – it all holds up and transcends the sum of its parts. For all I can hear, they're back, baby.

Symp(h)tomatic for the entire album, the opener has so many details that you have to listen to it several times to soak them all up – which, take it from me, is still impossible after five spins. Even that guitar solo has some cool whammy bends and pinched harmonics.

The Burtonesque spooky keyboard, along with the many choirs and orchestral accompaniments, collectively make for an impression that's almost too much of everything at once. But the whole thing's damn convincing. And you will remember that chorus, even in it's deliberately snarly anti-melody:

"Wiper spine!
Caress entwine!
Vitality divine!"

And yes, I know it's supposed to say 'viper'. But for some reason, Shagrath, like too embarrassingly many other Scandinavians, chooses to pronounce the 'v' like a 'w'. Kinda impressive when you've been performing English lyrics for 30 years, and when there's an ensuing 'v' that you have no problem pronouncing correctly. Yes, I digress, but I would not be able to look myself in the mirror as a professional linguist unless I did that a bit right here.

Staying with Shaggy for a bit, the man's got seemingly zero shits left to give, his deep, demonic screeching more black metal than ever, and even employing it in Norwegian on two occasions. And shit, those occasions are the album's quality peaks. The triplet-feel fist-pumper "Ulvgjeld & Blodsodel" ("Wolf's Debt & Blood Heritage") lands at the perfect spot, making for the perfect instant of variation, and the more melancholic Minor-key waltz of "Slik Minnes en Alkymist" ("Such, An Alchemist Remembers") leaves an unlikely mark, equal parts catchy and reflective:

"Pendelen svinger (The pendulum swings)
Og når alt er sagt (And when all is said)
Og alt er gjort (And all is done)
Er det som om stillstanden (It is as though the impasse)
Forføres bort (Is seduced away)"

Those diabolic vocals, however, is not only thing here that's black metal. As much as I appreciate DB for introducing me to the genre back in the day, I would also historically side with those who claim that DB soon became too far removed from black metal to properly count as such. But this time around, I have no qualms using that label.

Because while "Grand Serpent Rising" retains that ultra-epic production that DB proudly and defiantly made their trademark, the many blast beats along with especially Silenoz' rancorous riffs and frantic jab-saw strumming, is quintessential BM. Yes, it features choirs and an orchestra; those are still enhancements, not the core.

And shit, "As Seen in the Unseen" is quintessential DB. The guitar sound and the tonality are perfectly rotten. And the half-time section – a half-time section though it is – is still as far removed from jock metal half-times as it gets. This is pure, mountainous might.

Just like Metallica's latest studio album was said to "contain a bit of all the Metallicas we've known through the years", the same thing can be said about "Grand Serpent Rising". While "Repository of Divine Transmutation" initially sounds a bit like Satyricon around "Volcano" (i.e., 2002), a sudden break with strings immediately echoes this little '97 ditty, name of "Spellbound By the Devil" – an impression upheld by the blues-based solo during the coda. A dude's almost getting nostalgic here!

It's all built upon metal to such a high extent that you'd need to be a metalhead to reap the listeners' rewards. But just like music overall, it's much more than just metal.

Granted, however, that at almost 1h10m, this is one of those albums that ends up outstaying their welcome a bit. While the first half is a pure joy, the second doesn't add anything very new or surprising to the mix. Several cool riffs and ideas keep flowing, but the overall impression of snarling-over-blast-beats-with-gnarly-riffs-and-hella-strings reaches its point of diminishing returns long before the album reaches its conclusion. And the heavy usage of aforementioned narration during the second half gets a bit old as well.

As I grant a rating of 5 out of 6 here, then, it is not only for an enjoyable revisit with a group that was important to me around the turn of the millennium, but for a peerless combination of theatricality, majesty, monstrosity, vision, and ambition. Some of "Grand Serpent Rising" is more symphonic than it's metal.

But at the same time, some of those cuts feature guitar that's more like the old Ulver or Darkthrone than anything else. And other sections are simply a bit mesmerizing in all their uniqueness – for example, that killer tritone-based riff in "The Qryptfarer" that's backed by not only female choir voices, but also an Enya-like piano.

It's all built upon metal to such a high extent that you'd need to be a metalhead to reap the listeners' rewards. But just like music overall, it's much more than just metal.

Rating: 5 out of 6

Genre: Symphonic black metal
Release date: 22/5/2026
Label: Nuclear Blast
Producer: Fredrik Nordström

Thanks for reading.
If you liked this review, you can support a metal brother by buying me a coffee.