Review DIMMU BORGIR ‘Inspiratio Profanus’

Norwegian symphonic black metal force Dimmu Borgir recorded and released some cover version over the span of their career. Now, the band launches a new record that is entitled ‘Inspiratio Profanus’ which is an eight-song featuring release with a running of 32 minutes. Besides the rather short playing time, the album also includes songs the band released earlier – the mentioned cover versions.

The start is a well-done one. ‘Black Metal’ from Venom, a song that defined a whole genre, kicks-off ‘Inspiration Profanus’ and there is now doiubt about Dimmu Borgir having all the tools in hand to create a good cover version. The same goes for ‘Satan My Master’ from Bathory.

With ‘Nocturnal Fear’ comes the first of two Celtic Frost tributes while it’s the finale that features with ‘Nocturnal Fear (Celtically Processed)’ another Celtic Frost song that has been release a on the 1996 EP ‘Devil’s Path’.

But also, traditional metal anthems have been covered, like Accept’s ‘Metal Heart’, which was already part of ‘Godless Savage Garden’. The cover version actually works very well which isn’t really the case when it comes to Deep Purple’s ‘Perfect Stranger’. Dimmu Borgir tries to stay closer to the original and at the same time tries to keep their trademarks as good as possible in place. The result is a version that sounds like a compromise that doesn’t serve any of the two aspects.

Dimmu Borgir updated the mastering of each of the songs and complied them on one album. If this is something the world waited for is a question, everyone needs to answer individually. Besides that, the covers, chosen throughout the three-decades-spanning career are certainly timeless anthems yet the metal world could have also handled a time without this extra release.