DIMMU BORGIR, BEHEMOTH, HEAVEN SHALL BURN, KEEP OF KALESSIN
(Roseland, 8 NW 6th) Silenoz never murdered anyone or burned down any churches. He did something more controversial. He formed Dimmu Borgir, the most popular—and subsequently, the most hated—band in the history of Norwegian black metal. “The audience and the fans are totally honest,” Silenoz says. “They tell you to your face if there’s something they don’t like.” Orthodox genre fans balked when Dimmu switched from Norwegian to English lyrics and signed to an international record label (Nuclear Blast) in 1997. They’ve since sold hundreds of thousands of albums and even played Ozzfest—in broad daylight! With In Sorte Diaboli, Dimmu have turned black metal into a symphonic black ’n’ roll concept album—like Meat Loaf’s Bat out of Hell stewing in a Cradle of Filth. “I don’t mind if people hate it either,” the guitarist/lyricist adds, “because it stirs up controversy, it stirs up opinion, and it gets the band name out there.” MIKE MEYER

Sweet Satan, just look at that image. As mentioned yesterday, that is exactly how you go about taking a striking—and not to mention totally fucked-up and sort of insulting—black metal band photo. All those bands looking tough with industrial backdrops behind them don’t hold a candle (Candlemass?) to Dimmu Borgir’s foray into faux-cannibalism.