Recorded at the same time as Emperor’s Anthems to the Welkin at Dusk, Dimmu Borgir eschewed that act’s (relative) tastefulness in favor of all-out scorched-earth bombast. It could have gone very, very wrong. Although they don’t do a very convincing job of making the listener believe the keyboards are a symphony orchestra, these sky-bound anthems explode black metal’s dark fables into cinemascope format. Blasphemous blasts like “Spellbound (By the Devil)” bring the Book of Revelations’ depictions of Armageddon to life.

– Jeff Treppel