As a longterm fan of Dimmu Borgir, I was excited when an enigmatic message appeared on the band’s website, promising a singular announcement; and equally disappointed to find that the band were teasing a rather mean collection of covers drawn from various releases over the years. It’s not that Dimmu Borgir’s covers aren’t fun – their cover of Twisted Sister’s Burn In Hell is a particular favourite – but, for fans who already have to endure long waits between albums, this somewhat expensive release is a rather disappointing stop gap – especially given the mystery surrounding its initial announcement.
Featuring just eight tracks, the album opens with a boisterous cover of Venom’s perennial favourite, Black Metal (originally included in the Japanese edition of In Sorte Diaboli). A little too faithful to really offer anything new, it’s the sound of the band having fun in the studio and it’s a fine bonus track, but hardly revelatory when placed in an album in its own right. Bathory’s Satan My Master (recorded during the Death Cult Armageddon sessions) is a similarly splenetic outpouring of black metal, delivered with brio, but coming across more as hero worship than interpretation. Far more interesting is Dimmu’s take on American industrial outfit G.G.F.H.’s Dead Men Don’t Rape (recorded during the Abrahadabra sessions and released via the mailorder edition of the album). With its dark keyboards and heavily processed vocals, it recalls Dimmu’s own Puritania, and it’s a strong track in the set. In contrast, Nocturnal Fear (the first of two versions of the Celtic Frost bruiser, both drawn from the Devil’s Path EP) is a grimy smear of blackened metal, with Shagrath clearly enjoying a rare opportunity to unleash a series of frantic lead runs.
Originally included on Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, Burn In Hell is a cover of Twisted Sister’s dark classic and it’s always been a firm favourite of mine. A fun take on the track, it ramps up the amateur theatrics and makes good use of Vortex’s soaring clean vocals, making it a great example of a classic metal track being given a thorough kicking by a bunch of black metal ne’er-do-wells. Rather more surprising is a cover of Deep Purple’s Perfect Strangers, another track originally recorded during the Abrahadabra sessions, and also included with the mailorder edition. Not quite as fun as Burn In Hell, it’s delivered with rather more respect for the source material than you might imagine, but it benefits from Snowy Shaw’s clean vocals and it does a good job of reminding us what might have been had Snowy stayed the course and remained with the band. Next up, a cover of Accept’s Metal Heart (originally on Godless Savage Garden) is decent enough, although it harks back to Dimmu’s rather naïve early years – back when they were still figuring out the limits of their own ambition – placing it at odds with the Adrahadabra material and making you wonder if this album wouldn’t have worked better if sequenced chronologically. Finally, the album returns to the Devil’s Path EP for the “Celtically Processed” take on Nocturnal Fear, which sounds somewhat like Darkthrone.
While there are those who will be glad to have Dimmu Borgir’s various covers in one place and with coherent mastering, this is a somewhat ungenerous collection, offering few surprises. While the band argue it’s a chance to place their influences together, who could doubt that the likes of Bathory, Venom, and Celtic Frost would rank high among these? The more interesting covers, meanwhile, such as Burn In Hell, have been widely available for years, making this a somewhat redundant collection for all but the most ardent fan (most of whom would surely have the limited releases featuring these tracks anyway).
Had this been released as a bonus disc to a new album, or even as a more budget friendly EP, it would have been more forgivable, but to call an 8-track release of predominantly available material an album, and with the CD retailing at around £14.00 at time of writing, this is not an easy release to recommend, even if the music contained within is enjoyable enough. Frankly, Dimmu Borgir fans deserve better. 4/10
Inspiratio Profanus Tracklist:
1. Black Metal (Venom)
2. Satan My Master (Bathory)
3. Dead Men Don’t Rape (G.G.F.H.)
4. Nocturnal Fear (Celtic Frost)
5. Burn In Hell (Twisted Sister)
6. Perfect Strangers (Deep Purple)
7. Metal Heart (Accept)
8. Nocturnal Fear (Celtically Processed) (Celtic Frost)
