Dimmu Borgir

Although they rile up fundamentalist Christians something fierce, there’s something inherently comical about black-metal bands, particularly the ones hailing from the genre’s bountiful breadbasket of Norway. They just put so much effort into their shtick. Take, for example, Dimmu Borgir, a long-running group that has released albums such as Death Cult Armageddon, Godless Savage Garden, and, best of all, Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia. The group looks the part, too, all flowing black clothes and white makeup. For all its Satan-praising, though, Dimmu Borgir can be surprisingly melodic; for Armageddon, the group enlisted the Prague Philharmonic to lend extra oomph. Dimmu Borgir appears here behind the new Abrahadabra. 

Updated 11/04/2010