The Dimmuborgir area consists of a massive, collapsed lava tube formed by a lava lake flowing in from a large eruption in the Þrengslaborgir and Lúdentsborgir crater row to the East, about 2300 years ago. The last track is another instrumental, "Perfection and Vanity", that while very good is not up to par with "Fear and Wonder". "Blessings Upon the Throne of Tyranny" is a roaring tapestry of blast beat drumming, synthesizers, ranging guitars and shrieked vocals. This is one of those rare intros which lead the listener to expect something extraordinary after it, building one’s hopes up for the entire album. The worst thing is that, often, the bad parts are even repeated cyclically more than once, making the songs overlong and even more boring. Everything is well thought through, and the musicians are at almost full potential. Of course, it is the least kvlt or pure, but when done right (like with Dissection) songs can be flawless. There's little that I can say about this album that hasn't already been said by others. If I had to choose only one song to represent the absolute nadir of this band, this track would be the choice without doubt. Don't throw it by the way-side without honoring a listen or two.

This then, along with “Stormblast”, is the only truly essential Dimmu Borgir, and it's a modern black metal classic in its own right. “Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia” features some of the best metal drumming I've heard in a long time.

Also, a lot of the times when they do have a riff, it's a shitty Gothenburg-style riff. This record is the perfect demonstration that a black metal band can experiment successfully and make an amazing album even without sticking closely to the original black metal sound. They connected melodies with aggression in order to tell horror stories - and they did a good job. Now, the vocals… Vortex plays his lines very well, even though I hate when he doubles or triples them. Nick Barker is certainly a metal legend today, and this is for a good reason. Over all, this is an enjoyable track if you manage to forget the fact that Dimmu were supposed to be a melodic black metal band. Yes it's over polished and over produced, but who cares. But, well, it seems that too much success has fucked up their minds. Sadly the album is full of this. You might find something there..industrial filled atmosphere..machine crafted vocals. That said, my advice, before listening to this album, is to get rid of all your prejudices, open your mind, and enjoy the experience.

I have resigned to the fact that half of the time, I don't think Dimmu Borgir know what they are doing. A straight two minutes of "sci-fi" sounding vocal samples, repetitive synth and guitar, and very predictable vocal samples are the "highlights".

Many tracks suffer from being a bit too similar: i.e. (This is the predetermined breaking point for some wise guys to scream: Dimmu's pop music shit is no black metal at all!) Dimmu Borgir truly hit their stride here, getting the sound just right and writing some classic black metal anthems in the process. Every blast beat Barker does is fantastic, it's just a shame consistent blast beats were only a featured characteristic on this album only within Dimmu Borgir's library.