''In Sorte Diaboli'' (

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...

for "In league with the devil") is the eighth

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

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 in 2007. It is the band's first

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

. A site on the

Nuclear Blast Nuclear Blast is a record label and mail order record distributor with subsidiaries in Germany, the United States and Brazil. The label was founded in 1987 by Markus Staiger in Germany. Originally releasing hardcore punk records, the label mov ...

website was created for ''In Sorte Diaboli'', in which a new promotional photo can be seen and an audio sample can be heard. This would be the last album by Dimmu Borgir to feature

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 ...

Hellhammer Hellhammer was a Swiss metal band from Nürensdorf, active from 1982 to 1984. Although the band's sound and style were heavily criticized and poorly reviewed during their active years, they have been widely praised in retrospect and are often re ...

and

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 ...

Concept

''In Sorte Diaboli'' is the band's first

, with a story located in medieval

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. It is about a priest who begins to doubt his faith, and then ends up taking the place of the

Antichrist In Christian eschatology, the Antichrist refers to people prophesied by the Bible to oppose Jesus Christ and substitute themselves in Christ's place before the Second Coming. The term Antichrist (including one plural form) 1 John ; . 2 John . ...

. "There's this dude that works as a priest's assistant, and after a while he just discovers that he has nothing to do with

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

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 ...

says. "He just sort of has this awakening and realizes that he has different abilities and different powers and is leaning more to the dark side." The words "In Sorte Diaboli" are a repeated line in the song "The Chosen Legacy" and the words also appears towards the end of the song, "The Sinister Awakening". The conclusion of the story in the booklet implies that the story of ''In Sorte Diaboli'' is not yet finished. This remains to be seen, as their next album, ''Abrahadabra'', is heavily influenced by

Aleister Crowley Aleister Crowley (; born Edward Alexander Crowley; 12 October 1875 – 1 December 1947) was an English occultist, ceremonial magician, poet, painter, novelist, and mountaineer. He founded the religion of Thelema, identifying himself as the pro ...

's Thelema text ''

The Book of the Law ''Liber AL vel Legis'' (), commonly known as ''The Book of the Law'', is the central sacred text of Thelema. Aleister Crowley said that it was dictated to him by a beyond-human being who called himself ' Aiwass'. Rose Edith Kelly, Crowley's ...

''. IGN named the album the Top Metal Album of 2007.

Critical reception

''In Sorte Diaboli'' received generally positive critical reception.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

gave the album 3 stars and praised the music, saying " ere's really great stuff here in the music, the production, in the sound effects". However they criticised the concept and lyrics of the album, writing "Too bad it all melts down when it comes to the concept, which is ho hum at best".

About.com Dotdash Meredith (formerly About.com) is an American digital media company based in New York City. The company publishes online articles and videos about various subjects across categories including health, home, food, finance, tech, beauty, ...

was more positive and gave the album 4 stars and wrote that " e songs are orchestral and melodic, but still plenty of punch and darkness". Both Blabbermouth and

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

gave the album 9/10, and ''

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

'' gave it 4/5. The

album cover An album cover (also referred to as album art) is the front packaging art of a commercially released studio album or other audio recordings. The term can refer to either the printed paperboard covers typically used to package sets of and 78-r ...

was rated by

LA Weekly ''LA Weekly'' is a free weekly alternative newspaper in Los Angeles, California. It was founded in 1978 by Jay Levin, who served as president and editor until 1991. Voice Media Group sold the paper in late 2017 to Semanal Media LLC, whose paren ...

9 out of 25 from their article ''The 25 Creepiest Heavy Metal Album Covers''.

Chart and sales performance

In their native Norway, the album peaked at number 1, which marks the first time in history of a black metal band reaching the number 1 spot. The album sold approximately 14,000 copies in its first week. The album also sold well in Sweden, Finland, Austria and Switzerland.

Track listing

All songs written by

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

and

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 ...

. All lyrics written by Silenoz.

Personnel

; Dimmu Borgir *

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

– lead vocals *

– rhythm guitar, liner story *

– lead guitar *

– synthesizers * I.C.S. Vortex – bass, clean vocals on tracks 1, 4 & 10 *

– drums ; Technical *

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 ...

- 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 ...

* Patrik J. Sten - assistant engineering *

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 and artwork *

Patric Ullaeus Patric Ullaeus is a Swedish director and photographer. He is the founder of Revolver Film Company, based in Gothenburg. With his music video "The Serpentine Offering" for Dimmu Borgir he won the "Norwegian Grammy" award Spellemannsprisen in the ...

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

Special editions

* The album was specially released in a limited edition

digipak Optical disc packaging is the packaging that accompanies CDs, DVDs, and other formats of optical discs. Most packaging is rigid or semi-rigid and designed to protect the media from scratches and other types of exposure damage. Jewel case A ...

that contains a bonus

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...

, 32-page booklet, and mirrored lyrics. The European limited digipak and the mail order leather-bound book editions come with a plastic mirror with which one can properly read the lyrics. The North American limited edition does not contain this mirror. The DVD contains the video clip for "The Serpentine Offering", two short "making of" documentaries for both the album and the video, a photogallery, and a media player. ** The limited-edition

an digipak features the bonus track "The Ancestral Fever" as the fourth track. ** The limited-edition

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

n digipak features the bonus track "The Heretic Hammer" as the sixth track. ** The limited-edition

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese digipak features the bonus track "Black Metal", a cover of the classic

Venom Venom or zootoxin is a type of toxin produced by an animal that is actively delivered through a wound by means of a bite, sting, or similar action. The toxin is delivered through a specially evolved ''venom apparatus'', such as fangs or a sti ...

track, as the tenth track. * A very limited exclusive mail order edition, which features a leather booklet, was also released. This version also contains the two bonus tracks from the North American and European digipak versions. * The vinyl edition is a

gatefold A gatefold cover or gatefold LP is a form of packaging for LP records that became popular in the mid-1960s. A gatefold cover, when folded, is the same size as a standard LP cover (i.e., a 12½ inch, or 32.7 centimetre square). The larger gatefo ...

LP packaged with a bonus 7", which also contains both the European and the North American Bonus track, and is limited to 2000 copies worldwide.Dimmu Borgir - In Sorte Diaboli
* The artwork is censored by a slipcase cover in North America.

References

External links

Official ''In Sorte Diaboli'' page
at NuclearBlast.com {{Authority control Dimmu Borgir albums 2007 albums Nuclear Blast albums Concept albums Albums recorded at Studio Fredman Albums produced by Fredrik Nordström