''Death Cult Armageddon'' is the sixth studio album by Norwegian

symphonic black metal Symphonic black metal is a subgenre of black metal that emerged in the 1990s and incorporates symphonic and orchestral elements. Notable symphonic black metal bands include Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, and Carach Angren. History ...

band

Dimmu Borgir Dimmu Borgir () is a Norwegian symphonic black metal band from Jessheim, formed in 1993. The name is derived from Dimmuborgir, a volcanic formation in Iceland, the name of which means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic, ...

, released on 9 September 2003. It has since sold over 100,000 copies in the United States; the first album under Nuclear Blast to do so; and debuted on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart at number 169. The song "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" was released as a single with an accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

. This would also be the last album to have

Nicholas Barker Nicholas Howard Barker (born 1973) is an English extreme metal drummer best known as for his work in Cradle of Filth and Dimmu Borgir. Currently he is the drummer for Brujeria and Shining. Biography Barker was born on 25 April 1973. He join ...

on drums. The artwork within the album, done by Swiss artist Joachim Luetke, displays what appears to be an industrial factory, inside of which the band members are living out their fantasies, some of which are similar to scenes seen in the music video for "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse". Most of the songs have a common apocalyptic theme.

Release history

''Death Cult Armageddon'' saw initial release on CD,

vinyl Vinyl may refer to: Chemistry * Polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a particular vinyl polymer * Vinyl cation, a type of carbocation * Vinyl group, a broad class of organic molecules in chemistry * Vinyl polymer, a group of polymers derived from vinyl m ...

and

DVD-Audio DVD-Audio (commonly abbreviated as DVD-A) is a digital format for delivering high-fidelity audio content on a DVD. DVD-Audio uses most of the storage on the disc for high-quality audio and is not intended to be a video delivery format. The sta ...

on 9 September 2003 under Nuclear Blast, the DVD-Audio edition featuring all three bonus tracks, the "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" music video and photo galleries, which later featured on the Ozzfest edition bonus disc, and the Digipack editions featured the Bathory cover "Satan My Master". The Chinese edition was later released on 3 November 2003 and the Japanese edition was released the following month on 23 December 2003 with the orchestral bonus tracks.

Track listing

Personnel

; Dimmu Borgir *

Shagrath Stian Tomt Thoresen (born 18 November 1976),Shagrath
at Encyclopaedia Metallum known professiona ...

–

lead vocals The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of t ...

Silenoz Silenoz (born Sven Atle Kopperud, 1 March 1977) is a Norwegian guitarist who is a founding member, along with Shagrath and Tjodalv, of the Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir of which he is the primary songwriter. He is also guita ...

–

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar ...

Galder Tom Rune Andersen (born 18 October 1976), also known by his stage name Galder, is a Norwegian guitarist and vocalist. He is from the small town of Jessheim, north of Oslo. He is a founding member of the melodic black metal band Old Man's Child ...

–

lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featur ...

ICS Vortex Simen Hestnæs (born 4 March 1974), better known by his stage name ICS Vortex or simply Vortex, is a Norwegian musician. He is the vocalist of the similarly named band ICS Vortex, the avant-garde metal band Arcturus and the doom metal band Lamen ...

– bass,

clean vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

on tracks 2 & 7 *

Mustis Mustis is the pseudonym of Øyvind Johan Mustaparta (born 10 September 1979),https://www.metal-archives.com/artists/Mustis/9297 a Norwegian keyboardist best known for his work in the symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir, as well as the blac ...

–

grand piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

; Guests *

Abbath Doom Occulta Olve Eikemo (born 27 June 1973), better known by his stage name Abbath Doom Occulta or simply Abbath, is a Norwegian musician best known as a founding member of the black metal band Immortal. Before founding Immortal, Abbath performed with Old ...

–

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

on "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" & "Heavenly Perverse" * Orchestration arranged by Gaute Storås * Recorded with the

Prague Philharmonic Orchestra The Prague Philharmonic Orchestra was established in 1995, under the German conductor Friedemann Riehle. The orchestra has since produced many classical and film music recordings, working with labels such as Decca, EMI, Sony BMG and various in ...

(tracks 1–2, 4–7, 9–11) * Conducted by Adam Klemens * Charlie Storm – additional synthetics, sample assistance ; Technical staff *

Fredrik Nordström Björn Tom Fredrik Nordström (born 5 January 1967) is a Swedish musician and record producer, best known as the guitarist of heavy metal band Dream Evil. Nordström is one of the leading melodic death metal and power metal producers in Sweden ...

& Shagrath – Mixing,

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

, Producer *Patrik Sten – assistant engineering *Arnold Linberg – assistant engineering *Peter in de Detou – mastering *

Joachim Luetke Joachim Luetke (born 1957) is a German cross-media artist. He is mostly known for his artwork for bands such as Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir, Kreator, Marilyn Manson, Meshuggah, Sopor Aeternus and The Ensemble of Shadows and Rage. His art has also be ...

– cover-concept, artwork *Alf Børjesson – Group shots

Footnotes

{{Authority control 2003 albums Dimmu Borgir albums Albums recorded at Studio Fredman Nuclear Blast albums Albums produced by Fredrik Nordström