Forces of the Northern Night

Most "Rock Band Meets Symphony Orchestra" albums kind of suck on both accounts, neither fish nor fowl. This one doesn't.I think perhaps the determinant factor in the success/failure equation for this type of project is whether the musicians in the orchestra are really into it or are they just shrugging their shoulders, collecting a paycheck, and going home? And in that respect I will bet that most of the members of the Czech National Symphony will tell their grandchildren how one of the most memorable nights of their career was playing Wacken in 2012. You can just see the glee on their faces (some of them even wearing corpse-paint, fer-chrissake!) throughout the entire show. The humongous festival crowd buys into the concept, the Dimmu boys are kvelling as much as morose Scandinavians are allowed, and the whole thing comes off as joy-to-the-f'n-(under)world, hosanna in the highest.The arrangements for orchestra really work, which is unusual, and the mix is wonderfully balanced. When DB is pounding you can still hear the violins and they're not superfluous in the slightest.This line-up includes Daray-- on the interview disk the conductor of the Norwegian Radio Orchestra comments that he's an "active drummer" (ha! no #&%$!)-- and Agnete Kjolsrud delivering a truly eccentric screaming tour-de-force guest vocal on "Gateways."You get two CDs and two DVDs. The ponderously-produced Norwegian tv-presentation of this show is inferior in my opinion to the one from Wacken even though they obviously put some big bucks/krone into it. I suspect that's why they included both shows in this package; they were obligated to use the one from Oslo but probably liked the German show better as well?

Great set, performance, & production. Epic band! Unfortunately, this whole choir of fine singers simply is no match for the amazing voice and performance capability of I.C.X. Vortex. Still a 5 star band.

This was an excellent live performance by Dimmu Borgir accompanied by a live orchestra. The live orchestra really gives the songs new life. There are a ton of instruments going on, in general with black metal sounds can get murky and it may be hard to make out individual instruments and what the vocalist is saying. But on this album you can tell a lot of time went into mixing the record because the instruments are very clear and you can make out all the vocals, guitars, drums, and orchestra. If your a Dimmu Borgir fan and your on the fence about picking this up because your worried your going to be paying for songs you already have, then go ahead and pick this up because it's like hearing these classics for the first time again!

Sound quality leaves a bit to be desired.(Live performance, after all). Two discs long. Every Dimnu Borgir song that (within the last few years) fans will likely care about. Love it!

Awesome cd with an outstanding dvd concert that is included. Band sounds tight.

Great cd/dvd set

The vinyl is amazing. Not disappointed at all by the content. But the inside cardboard sleeves that contained the vinyls were very cheap, and one of them teared apart. Too bad.

The Orchestra and Choir pull out different colors and textures Shagrath's voice you do not hear in the regular recording.This version actually has 4 discs not 3.2 Audio discs2 DVD discs.

Grandiose fusion between brutality and classical majesty ! An impeccable concert, only wish I was there !

Excelente álbum en vivo, esta edición contiene 2dvds que incluyen el concierto principal en Oslo y su presentación en el Wacken ademas de un making of bastante entretenido donde puedes ver a entrevistas con la mayoria de los musicos fanaticos y la gente de produccion involucrada en este gran proyecto, me mucho la forma en la que ensamblaron este concierto ya que la orquesta y la banda suenan con mucha armonia durante toda la presentacion, los coros tambien suenan muy bien y la banda sigue tocando como siempre lo ha hecho o los odias o los amas, el unico motivo por el cual no le pongo 5 estrellas es por que el set list es el mismo en ambos conciertos, lo unico que cambia es la orquesta y la edición es un digipak de cardboard muy delgados donde tienes que sacar con cuidado los cds y dvds para que no se rayen ( era de esperarse ya que esta es la edición gabacha) pero si tienen mas dinero pueden adquirir la edición europea que viene en una edición en digibook mucho mas atractiva.

El producto es de buena calidad y el envío llego más que en tiempo. Muy buen precio para la edición.

Deadly love Dimmu

Dimmu Borgir ... einst als ultra evil Black Metaller am Start, nun auch in der modernen Metal-Orchester Ecke gelandet, jut, gehört ja zumindest als Keyboard-Untermalung auch dazu, fand den alten Mann ( Mustis ) an den Tasten zum 2000er Album als Beispiel echt Klasse, aber auch noch ersetzbar. Wer oder was allerdings nicht ersetzbar ist, ist Vortex, der Bassist mit den hohen Vocals, der gehört(e) für mich zu D.B. einfach dazu wie das Salz in der Suppe ( das Fehlen dieses Mannes bemerkt man besonders auf dem schwachen Abrahadabra Album ) ! Diese Parts werden hier auf dem Live-Album durch die Chöre ersetzt, nett, mal was anderes, kommt aber bei weitem nicht an Vortex' Stimme ran ... ich weiss ja nicht warum der nicht mehr dabei ist, aber ich wünsch ihn mir zurück ! Geht's bei den inzw. wohl hochmütigen drei Herren zu wie bei Metallica ? War das n Rangordnung Problem ? Oder is dem was zugestossen ? Apropos stossen, anstelle des Digipacks hätte ich lieber ein festes Digibook in dieser Version gehabt, gibt sonst zu schnell Macken ! Ansonsten alles toll gemacht, 2 CDs, 2 DVDs mit Konzert und ungeschminkten Interviews, der Sound passt, top produziert, Hut und Hörner ab.