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The demiurge is a concept from the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy for an artisan-like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was subsequently adopted by the Gnostics. Although a fashioner, the demiurge is not necessarily thought of as being the same as the creator figure in the familiar monotheistic sense,^{[dubious – discuss]} because both the demiurge itself plus the material from which the demiurge fashions the universe are considered either uncreated and eternal, or the product of some other being, depending on the system.

The word "demiurge" is an English word from a Latinized form of the Greek δημιουργός, dēmiourgos, literally "public worker", and which was originally a common noun meaning "craftsman" or "artisan", but gradually it came to mean "producer" and eventually "creator". The philosophical usage and the proper noun derive from Plato's Timaeus, written circa 360 BC, in which the demiurge is presented as the creator of the universe. This is accordingly the definition of the demiurge in the Platonic (ca. 310 BC-90 BC) and Middle Platonic (ca. 90 BC-300 AD) philosophical traditions. In the various branches of the Neoplatonic school (third century onwards), the demiurge is the fashioner of the real, perceptible world, and of the Ideas, but (in most neoplatonic systems) is still not itself "the One". In the arch-dualist ideology of the various Gnostic systems, the material universe is evil, while the non-material world is good. Accordingly, the demiurge is malevolent, as linked to the material world.

Platonism and Neoplatonism[link]

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Part of a series on
Plato
Early life · Works · Platonism Epistemology · Idealism / Realism · Demiurge Theory of Forms Form of the Good Third man argument Euthyphro dilemma · Five regimes Philosopher king
Allegories and metaphors
Ring of Gyges · The cave The divided line · The sun Ship of state · Myth of Er The chariot
Related articles
The Academy in Athens Socratic problem Commentaries on Plato Middle Platonism · Neoplatonism Neoplatonism and Christianity
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Plato has the speaker Timaeus refer to the Demiurge frequently in the Socratic dialogue Timaeus, circa 360 BC. Plato's Timaeus is a philosophical reconciliation of Hesiod's cosmology in his Theogony, syncretically reconciling Hesiod to Homer.^[1][2][3] The title character refers to the Demiurge as the entity who "fashioned and shaped" the material world. Timaeus describes the Demiurge as unreservedly benevolent, and hence desirous of a world as good as possible. The world remains allegedly imperfect, however, because the Demiurge created the world out of a chaotic, indeterminate non-being.

Neo-Pythagorean and Middle Platonism[link]

In Numenius's Neo-Pythagorean and Middle Platonist cosmogony, the Demiurge is second God as the nous or thought of intelligibles and sensibles.^[4]

NeoPlatonism[link]

Plotinus and the later Platonists worked to clarify the Demiurge. To Plotinus, the second emanation represents an uncreated second cause (see Pythagoras' Dyad). Plotinus sought to reconcile Aristotle's energeia with Plato's Demiurge,^[5] which, as Demiurge and mind (nous), is a critical component in the ontological construct of human consciousness used to explain and clarify substance theory within Platonic realism (also called idealism). Plotinus did this in order to reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with Platonian philosophy.^[5] Plotinus metaphorically identified the demiurge (or nous) within the pantheon of the Greek Gods as Zeus (Dyeus).^[6]

Henology[link]

The first and highest aspect of God is described by Plato as the One, the source, or the Monad. This is the Good above the Demiurge, and manifests through the work of the Demiurge. The Monad emanated the demiurge or Nous (consciousness) from its "indeterminate" vitality due to the monad being so abundant that it overflowed back onto itself, causing self-reflection.^[7] This self-reflection of the indeterminate vitality was referred to by Plotinus as the "Demiurge" or creator. The second principle is organization in its reflection of the nonsentient force or dynamis, also called the one or the Monad. The dyad is energeia emanated by the one that is then the work, process or activity called nous, Demiurge, mind, consciousness that organizes the indeterminate vitality into the experience called the material world, universe, cosmos. Plotinus also elucidates the equation of matter with nothing or non-being in his Enneads^[8] which more correctly is to express the concept of idealism or that there is not anything or anywhere outside of the "mind" or nous (c.f. pantheism).

Plotinus' form of Platonic idealism is to treat the Demiurge, nous as the contemplative faculty (ergon) within man which orders the force (dynamis) into conscious reality.^[9] In this he claimed to reveal Plato's true meaning, a doctrine he learned from Platonic tradition that did not appear outside the academy or in Plato's text. This tradition of creator God as nous (the manifestation of consciousness), can be validated in the works of pre-Plotinus philosophers such as Numenius, as well as a connection between Hebrew and Platonic cosmology (see also Philo).^[10]

The Demiurge of Neoplatonism is the Nous (mind of God), and is one of the three ordering principles:

• Arche (Gr. "beginning") - the source of all things,
• Logos (Gr. "word") - the underlying order that is hidden beneath appearances,
• Harmonia (Gr. "harmony") - numerical ratios in mathematics.

Before Numenius of Apamea and Plotinus' Enneads, no Platonic works ontologically clarified the Demiurge from the allegory in Plato's Timaeus. The idea of Demiurge was, however, addressed before Plotinus in the works of Christian writer Justin Martyr who built his understanding of the Demiurge on the works of Numenius.^{[citation needed]}

Iamblichus[link]

Later, the Neoplatonist Iamblichus changed the role of the "One", effectively altering the role of the Demiurge as second cause or dyad, which was one of the reasons that Iamblichus and his teacher Porphyry came into conflict.

The figure of the Demiurge emerges in the theoretic of Iamblichus, which conjoins the transcendent, incommunicable “One,” or Source. Here, at the summit of this system, the Source and Demiurge (material realm) coexist via the process of henosis.^[11] Iamblichus describes the One as a monad whose first principle or emanation is intellect (nous), while among "the many" that follow it there's a second, super-existent "One" that is the producer of intellect or soul (psyche).

The "One" is further separated into spheres of intelligence; the first and superior sphere is objects of thought, while the latter sphere is the domain of thought. Thus, a triad is formed of the intelligible nous, the intellective nous, and the psyche in order to reconcile further the various Hellenistic philosophical schools of Aristotle's actus and potentia of the unmoved mover and Plato's Demiurge.

Then within this intellectual triad Iamblichus assigns the third rank to the Demiurge, identifying it with the perfect or Divine nous with the intellectual triad being promoted to a hebdomad.

In the theoretic of Plotinus, nous produces nature through intellectual mediation, thus the intellectualizing gods are followed with a triad of psychic gods.

Gnosticism[link]

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Gnosticism presents a distinction between the highest, unknowable God and the demiurgic “creator” of the material. Several systems of Gnostic thought present the Demiurge as antagonistic to the will of the Supreme Being: his act of creation occurs in unconscious semblance of the divine model, and thus is fundamentally flawed, or else is formed with the malevolent intention of entrapping aspects of the divine in materiality. Thus, in such systems, the Demiurge acts as a solution to the problem of evil.

Mythos[link]

One Gnostic mythos describes the declination of aspects of the divine into human form. Sophia (Greek: Σοφια, lit. “wisdom”), the Demiurge’s mother and a partial aspect of the divine Pleroma or “Fullness,” desired to create something apart from the divine totality, and without the receipt of divine assent. In this abortive act of separate creation, she gave birth to the monstrous Demiurge and, being ashamed of her deed, wrapped him in a cloud and created a throne for him within it. The Demiurge, isolated, did not behold his mother, nor anyone else, and thus concluded that only he himself existed, being ignorant of the superior levels of reality that were his birth-place.

The Demiurge, having stolen a portion of power from his mother, sets about a work of creation in unconscious imitation of the superior Pleromatic realm: He frames the seven heavens, as well as all material and animal things, according to forms furnished by his mother; working however blindly, and ignorant even of the existence of the mother who is the source of all his energy. He is blind to all that is spiritual, but he is king over the other two provinces. The word dēmiourgos properly describes his relation to the material; he is the father of that which is animal like himself.^[12]

Thus Sophia’s power becomes enclosed within the material forms of humanity, themselves entrapped within the material universe: the goal of Gnostic movements was typically the awakening of this spark, which permitted a return by the subject to the superior, non-material realities which were its primal source.

Angels[link]

Psalms  82:1 describes a plurality of gods (ʼelōhim), which an older version in the Septuagint calls the “assembly of the gods,” although it does not indicate that these gods were co-actors in creation. Philo had inferred from the expression, "Let us make man," of Genesis that God had used other beings as assistants in the creation of man, and he explains in this way why man is capable of vice as well as virtue, ascribing the origin of the latter to God, of the former to His helpers in the work of creation.^[13]

The earliest Gnostic sects ascribe the work of creation to angels, some of them using the same passage in Genesis.^[14] So Irenaeus tells^[15] of the system of Simon Magus,^[16] of the system of Menander,^[17] of the system of Saturninus, in which the number of these angels is reckoned as seven, and^[18] of the system of Carpocrates. Again, in his report of the system of Basilides,^[19] we are told that our world was made by the angels who occupy the lowest heaven; but special mention is made of their chief, who is said to have been the God of the Jews, to have led that people out of the land of Egypt, and to have given them their law. The prophecies are ascribed not to the chief but to the other world-making angels.

The Latin translation, confirmed by Hippolytus,^[20] makes Irenaeus state that according to Cerinthus (who shows Ebionite influence), creation was made by a power quite separate from the Supreme God and ignorant of Him. Theodoret,^[21] who here copies Irenaeus, turns this into the plural number “powers,” and so Epiphanius^[22] represents Cerinthus as agreeing with Carpocrates in the doctrine that the world was made by angels.

Yaldabaoth[link]

A lion-faced deity found on a Gnostic gem in Bernard de Montfaucon’s L’antiquité expliquée et représentée en figures may be a depiction of the Demiurge.

In the Ophite and Sethian systems, which have many affinities with that last mentioned, the making of the world is ascribed to a company of seven archons, whose names are given, but their chief, “Yaldabaoth” (also known as "Yaltabaoth" or "Ialdabaoth") comes into still greater prominence.

In the Apocryphon of John circa 120-180 AD, the Demiurge arrogantly declares that he has made the world by himself:

Now the archon (ruler) who is weak has three names. The first name is Yaltabaoth, the second is Saklas (“fool”), and the third is Samael. And he is impious in his arrogance which is in him. For he said, "I am God and there is no other God beside me," for he is ignorant of his strength, the place from which he had come.^[23]

He is Demiurge and maker of man, but as a ray of light from above enters the body of man and gives him a soul, Yaldabaoth is filled with envy; he tries to limit man's knowledge by forbidding him the fruit of knowledge in paradise. The Demiurge, fearing lest Jesus, whom he had intended as his Messiah, should spread the knowledge of the Supreme God, had him crucified by the Romans. At the consummation of all things all light will return to the Pleroma. But Yaldabaoth, the Demiurge, with the material world, will be cast into the lower depths.

In Pistis Sophia Yaldabaoth has already sunk from his high estate and resides in Chaos, where, with his forty-nine demons, he tortures wicked souls in boiling rivers of pitch, and with other punishments (pp. 257, 382). He is an archon with the face of a lion, half flame and half darkness.

Yaldabaoth is frequently called "the Lion-faced", leontoeides, with the body of a serpent. We are told also,^[24] that the Demiurge is of a fiery nature, the words of Moses being applied to him, “the Lord our God is a burning and consuming fire,” a text used also by Simon.^[25]

Under the name of Nebro (rebel), Yaldabaoth is called an angel in the apocryphal Gospel of Judas. He is first mentioned in “The Cosmos, Chaos, and the Underworld” as one of the twelve angels to come “into being [to] rule over chaos and the [underworld]”. He comes from heaven, his “face flashed with fire and whose appearance was defiled with blood”. Nebro creates six angels in addition to the angel Saklas to be his assistants. These six in turn create another twelve angels “with each one receiving a portion in the heavens.”

Names[link]

The most probable derivation of the name “Yaldabaoth” is that given by Johann Karl Ludwig Gieseler, “Daughter of Chaos,” from Hebrew yalda bahut,ילדא בהות.

“Samael” literally means “Blind God” or “God of the Blind” in Aramaic (Syriac sæmʻa-ʼel). This being is considered not only blind, or ignorant of its own origins, but may in addition be evil; its name is also found in Judaica as the Angel of Death and in Christian demonology. This leads to a further comparison with Satan. Another alternative title for the Demiurge, “Saklas,” is Aramaic for “fool” (Syriac sækla “the foolish one”).

The name has also been inscribed as "Ariel Ialdabaoth",^[26][27] and the figure of the archon inscribed with "Aariel".^[28] The angelic name "Ariel" has also been used to refer to the demiurge and is called his "perfect" name,^[29] and in some Gnostic lore, Ariel has been called an ancient or original name for Ialdabaoth.^[30]

Marcion[link]

According to Marcion, the title God was given to the Demiurge, who was to be sharply distinguished from the higher Good God. The former was díkaios, severely just, the latter agathós, or loving-kind; the former was the "god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4), the God of the Old Testament, the latter the true God of the New Testament. Christ, though in reality the Son of the Good God, pretended to be the Messiah of the Demiurge, the better to spread the truth concerning His heavenly Father. The true believer in Christ entered into God's kingdom, the unbeliever remained forever the slave of the Demiurge.

Valentinus[link]

It is in the system of Valentinus that the name Dēmiourgos is used, which occurs nowhere in Irenaeus except in connection with the Valentinian system; and we may reasonably conclude that it was Valentinus who adopted from Platonism the use of this word. When it is employed by other Gnostics it may be held either that it is not used in a technical sense, or that its use has been borrowed from Valentinus. But it is only the name that can be said to be specially Valentinian; the personage intended by it corresponds more or less closely with the Yaldabaoth of the Ophites, the great Archon of Basilides, the Elohim of Justinus, etc.

The Valentinian theory elaborates that from Achamoth (he káta sophía or lower wisdom) three kinds of substance take their origin, the spiritual (pneumatikoí), the animal (psychikoí) and the material (hylikoí). The Demiurge belongs to the second kind, as he was the offspring of a union of Achamoth with matter.^[31] And as Achamoth herself was only the daughter of Sophía the last of the thirty Aeons, the Demiurge was distant by many emanations from the Propatôr, or Supreme God.

The Demiurge in creating this world out of Chaos was unconsciously influenced for good by Jesus Soter; and the universe, to the surprise even of its Maker, became almost perfect. The Demiurge regretted even its slight imperfection, and as he thought himself the Supreme God, he attempted to remedy this by sending a Messiah. To this Messiah, however, was actually united Jesus the Saviour, Who redeemed men. These are either hylikoí, or pneumatikoí.

The first, or material men, will return to the grossness of matter and finally be consumed by fire; the second, or animal men, together with the Demiurge as their master, will enter a middle state, neither Pleroma nor hyle; the purely spiritual men will be completely freed from the influence of the Demiurge and together with the Saviour and Achamoth, his spouse, will enter the Pleroma divested of body (hyle) and soul (psyché).^[32] In this most common form of Gnosticism the Demiurge had an inferior though not intrinsically evil function in the universe as the head of the animal, or psychic world.

The devil[link]

Opinions on the devil, and his relationship to the Demiurge, varied. The Ophites held that he and his demons constantly oppose and thwart the human race, as it was on their account the devil was cast down into this world.^[33] According to one variant of the Valentinian system, the Demiurge is besides the maker, out of the appropriate substance, of an order of spiritual beings, the devil, the prince of this world, and his angels. But the devil, as being a spirit of wickedness, is able to recognise the higher spiritual world, of which his maker the Demiurge, who is only animal, has no knowledge. The devil resides in this lower world, of which he is the prince, the Demiurge in the heavens; his mother Sophia in the middle region, above the heavens and below the Pleroma.^[34]

The Valentinian Heracleon^[35] interpreted the devil as the principle of evil, that of hyle (matter). As he writes in his commentary on John 4:21,

The mountain represents the Devil, or his world, since the Devil was one part of the whole of matter, but the world is the total mountain of evil, a deserted dwelling place of beasts, to which all who lived before the law and all Gentiles render worship. But Jerusalem represents the creation or the Creator whom the Jews worship. . . . You then who are spiritual should worship neither the creation nor the Craftsman, but the Father of Truth.

This vilification of the Creator was held to be inimical to Christianity by the early fathers of the church. In refuting the views of the Gnostics, Irenaeus observed that "Plato is proved to be more religious than these men, for he allowed that the same God was both just and good, having power over all things, and Himself executing judgment."^[36]

Cathars[link]

Catharism apparently inherited their idea of Satan as the creator of the evil world from Gnosticism. Gilles Quispel writes,

There is a direct link between ancient Gnosticism and Catharism. The Cathars held that the creator of the world, Satanael, had usurped the name of God, but that he had subsequently been unmasked and told that he was not really God.^[37]

Neoplatonism and Gnosticism[link]

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Gnosticism attributed falsehood, fallen or evil, to the concept of Demiurge or Creator (see Zeus and Prometheus), though sometimes the creator is from a fallen, ignorant or lesser, rather than evil, perspective (in some Gnosticism traditions), such as that of Valentinius. The Neoplatonist philosopher Plotinus addressed within his works what he saw as un-Hellenic and blasphemous to the demiurge or creator of Plato.

Gnosticism's conception of the Demiurge was criticised by Plotinus. Plotinus is noted as the founder of Neoplatonism (along with his teacher Ammonius Saccas).^[38] His criticism is contained in the ninth tractate of the second of the Enneads. Therein, Plotinus criticizes his opponents for their appropriation of ideas from Plato:

From Plato come their punishments, their rivers of the underworld and the changing from body to body; as for the plurality they assert in the Intellectual Realm—the Authentic Existent, the Intellectual-Principle, the Second Creator and the Soul—all this is taken over from the Timaeus. (Ennead 2.9.vi; emphasis added from A. H. Armstrong's introduction to Ennead 2.9)

Of note here is the remark concerning the second hypostasis or Creator and third hypostasis or World Soul within Plotinus. Plotinus criticizes his opponents for “all the novelties through which they seek to establish a philosophy of their own”^[39] which, he declares, “have been picked up outside of the truth”;^[39] they attempt to conceal rather than admit their indebtedness to ancient philosophy, which they have corrupted by their extraneous and misguided embellishments. Thus their understanding of the Demiurge is similarly flawed in comparison to Plato’s original intentions.

Whereas Plato's demiurge is good wishing good on his creation, gnosticism contends that the demiurge is not only the originator of evil but is evil as well. Hence the title of Plotinus' refutation "Enneads", The Second Ennead, Ninth Tractate - Against Those That Affirm the Creator of the Kosmos and the Kosmos Itself to be Evil: [generally quoted as "Against the Gnostics"]. Plotinus marks his arguments with the disconnect or great barrier that is created between the nous or mind's noumenon (see Heraclitus) and the material world (phenomenon) by believing the material world is evil.

The majority view tends^[40] to understand Plotinus' opponents as being a Gnostic sect—certainly (specifically Sethian), several such groups were present in Alexandria and elsewhere about the Mediterranean during Plotinus' lifetime. Also, several of his criticisms bear specific similarity to Gnostic doctrine (Plotinus pointing to the gnostic doctrine of Sophia and her emission of the Demiurge is most notable among these similarities).

However, Christos Evangeliou has contended^[41] that Plotinus’ opponents might be better described as simply “Christian Gnostics”, arguing that several of Plotinus’ criticisms are as applicable to orthodox Christian doctrine as well. Also, considering the evidence from the time, Evangeliou felt the definition of the term “Gnostics” was unclear. Thus, though the former understanding certainly enjoys the greatest popularity, the identification of Plotinus’ opponents as Gnostic is not without some contention. Of note here is that while Plotinus' student Porphyry names Christianity specifically in Porphyry's own works, and Plotinus is to have been a known associate of the Christian Origen, none of Plotinus' works mention Christ or Christianity. Whereas Plotinus specifically addresses his target in the Enneads as the gnostics.

A. H. Armstrong identified the so-called "Gnostics" that Plotinus was attacking as Jewish and Pagan, in his introduction to the tract in his translation of the Enneads. Armstrong alluding to Gnosticism being a Hellenic philosophical heresy of sorts, which later engaged Christianity and Neoplatonism.^[42][43]

John D. Turner, professor of religious studies at the University of Nebraska and famed translator and editor of the Nag Hammadi library, stated^[44] that the text Plotinus and his students read was Sethian gnosticism which predates Christianity. It appears that Plotinus attempted to clarify how the philosophers of the academy had not arrived at the same conclusions (such as Dystheism or misotheism for the creator God as an answer to the problem of evil) as the targets of his criticism.

Emil Cioran also write his "Le mauvais démiurge (The evil Demiurge)" published in 1969, influenced by gnosticism and Schopenhauerian interpretation of Platonic ontology as well as that of Plotinus.

See also[link]

• Albinus (philosopher)
• Gnosticism
• Emil Cioran
• Mara (demon)

References[link]

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Herbermann, Charles, ed. (1913). "Demiurge". Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company. 

This article incorporates text from the entry Demiurgus in A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines by William Smith and Henry Wace (1877), a publication now in the public domain.

External links[link]

• Dark Mirrors of Heaven: Gnostic Cosmogony
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Demiurge". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

Dimmu Borgir
Dimmu Borgir performing in 2011.
Background information
Origin	Oslo, Norway
Genres	Black metal, symphonic black metal, symphonic metal
Years active	1993–present
Labels	Ex-No Colours, ex-Spikefarm, ex-Cacophonous, ex-Century Media, Nuclear Blast
Associated acts	Old Man's Child, Cradle of Filth, Ov Hell, Carpe Tenebrum, Brujeria, The Kovenant, Mayhem, Arcturus, Chrome Division, Code, Susperia, Dødheimsgard, Nile, Borknagar, Nachtmystium, Ragnarok, Angelcorpse, God Dethroned, Vesania, Vader, Infernal Method, Ved Buens Ende
Website	http://www.site.dimmu-borgir.com/
Members
Shagrath Silenoz Galder Daray Cyrus Gerlioz
Past members
(see below)

Dimmu Borgir ( /ˌdɪmuː ˈbɔrɡɪər/) is a Norwegian black metal band from Oslo, Norway, formed in 1993. Dimmu Borgir means "dark cities" or "dark castles/fortresses" in Icelandic, Faroese and Old Norse. The name is derived from a volcanic formation in Iceland, Dimmuborgir. The band has been through numerous line-up changes over the years; guitarist Silenoz and vocalist Shagrath are the only founding members remaining.^[1][2]

Biography[link]

[edit] For All Tid and Stormblåst period

Dimmu Borgir was founded in 1993 by Shagrath, Silenoz, and Tjodalv, the band released an EP in 1993 entitled Inn i evighetens mørke ("Into the Darkness of Eternity" in English). This short EP sold out within weeks, and the band followed up with the 1994 full length album For All Tid ('For All Time' in English) This album featured vocal contributions by Vicotnik of Ved Buens Ende and Dødheimsgard and Aldrahn of Dødheimsgard and Zyklon-B. The initial lineup consisted of Shagrath playing drums with Tjodalv on guitar and Silenoz contributing lead vocals. This line-up changed before the release of Stormblåst (translates to "Storm Blown") on Cacophonous Records in 1996, an album considered by many to be their finest.^[3] It is also the last album which features all lyrics written and sung in Norwegian.^[4][5] This album was criticized by Allmusic because of bad sound quality and inaccessibility to wide audience.

[edit] Enthrone Darkness Triumphant period

After Stormblåst, keyboardist Stian Aarstad left the band due to his obligation to serve in the Norwegian army, thus being unable to participate in the 1996 recording of Devil's Path. That period was also marked by the departure of bassist Brynjard Tristan and the arrival of Nagash. Stian Aarstad returned for the recording of 1997's Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. While on tour to support the album, he had trouble attending rehearsals and being on tour, and was subsequently fired.^[6] Enthrone Darkness Triumphant was a huge success for the band, and was their first release signed to Nuclear Blast, a German record label. The album was recorded in the Abyss Studios, owned by Hypocrisy's frontman Peter Tägtgren.^[7][8] After the release of Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, the band went on tour with In Flames, Dissection and other bands who had penetrated to the scene at the time.

[edit] Spiritual Black Dimensions and Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia period

After the tour for Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, the band recruited new members Mustis on keyboards and Astennu on lead guitar. Dimmu Borgir's following full-length albums Spiritual Black Dimensions in 1999 and 2001's Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia, both met critical acclaim.^[9][10][11] However, another line-up change occurred between the two albums; Nagash quit and was replaced by new bassist/singer ICS Vortex, and Tjodalv left due to his family commitments, and to form the subsequent band Susperia,^[12] only to be replaced with Nicholas Barker, of Cradle of Filth. Astennu was fired from his guitar duties as well, and was replaced by Galder.^[13][14][15]

[edit] Death Cult Armageddon and Stormblåst MMV period

Despite the regular video play on MTV2 and Fuse TV that their follow-up album would receive, the band stated that they were not "commercially-oriented," and instead, they 'simply wished to spread their message to more people'.^[16] In 2003, Dimmu Borgir recorded Death Cult Armageddon. Death Cult Armageddon was recorded with the Prague Philarmonic Orchestra, conducted by Adam Klemens. All orchestrations were arranged by Gaute Storaas (who had previously worked with Dimmu Borgir on the album Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia) In 2004, Dimmu Borgir performed on the mainstage at Ozzfest.

In 2005, the band did a complete re-recording of the Stormblåst album, featuring Hellhammer of Mayhem fame as the session drummer. The album also featured a DVD with a live performance from the 2004 Ozzfest tour.

[edit] In Sorte Diaboli period

Dimmu Borgir's eighth studio album, In Sorte Diaboli, was released April 24, 2007.^[17] A special edition version was released in a boxed case with a DVD, backward-printed lyrics, and a mirror. The album artwork was released on February 14, 2007 on a promotional webpage for the album. This album features the drumming of "Hellhammer" Jan Axel Blomberg of Mayhem. Blomberg left the band in mid tour in 2007 because of a neck injury that resulted in limited movement of his right arm. With the release of this album, Dimmu Borgir became the first black metal band with a number one album in their native country.^[18]

Shagrath performing on Gods of Metal 2007.

In 2009, members ICS Vortex and Mustis independently announced their departure from Dimmu Borgir. Mustis released a statement claiming his disfavor with the band, stating that he was not properly credited for his writing contributions to the band's music, mentioning possibly taking legal action.^[19]

Dimmu Borgir soon after confirmed the pair's dismissal from the band, releasing a statement explaining why the two were fired.^[20] Shagrath, Silenoz, and Galder wrote, "Funny then, how the new album is halfway finished written already by the rest of us without any of these guys' input, still having all those elements we're known for."^[20]

[edit] Abrahadabra period

Dimmu Borgir's ninth studio album, Abrahadabra, was released on September 24, 2010, in Germany, September 27, 2010, for the rest of Europe, and October 12, 2010 in North America.^[21] Silenoz explained that the growing periods of time between albums was because the band had stopped writing music while touring, which was affecting the quality of the music. He described the new album as having an "eerie and haunting feel to it", adding that the material is "epic", "primal", atmospheric and ambient. A promotional image released with the statement showed Shagrath returning to the keyboards.^[22] The album features an ensemble orchestra, the Kringkastingsorkestret (the Norwegian Radio Orchestra), as well as the Schola Cantorum choir, totaling more than 100 musicians and singers. Gaute Storaas, composer of the orchestral arrangements, released a statement on his role in working on the album. “Their music is epic, thematic and symphonic already from the creation; they are clearly having an orchestral approach to composing. My role in this is sometimes just to transcribe their themes, sometimes to take their ideas, tear them apart and build them back up in ways that are true to the band's intentions. The music must also be both interesting and playable for the musicians, and hopefully, meet the quality standards of the orchestral world.”

On July 8, the band confirmed that they had tapped Swedish multi-instrumentalist Snowy Shaw (Therion, Dream Evil) to replace bassist/clean vocalist ICS Vortex on their then upcoming album, Abrahadabra, and world tour.^[23] On August 25 it was announced that Snowy Shaw has left Dimmu Borgir to rejoin Therion.^[24] On September 17, 2010 Dimmu Borgir released the song "Born Treacherous" from Abrahadabra on their official Myspace page.^[25] Then on September 24 the band announced they would stream Abrahadabra in its entirety until 7 p.m. EST that evening.^[26] The keyboards and bass are currently played by Gerlioz from Apoptygma Berzerk and Cyrus of Susperia respectively, and the clean vocals are sampled. On May 28, 2011, Dimmu Borgir gave a very special one-off show at the Oslo Spektrum with the Norwegian Radio Orchestra and Schola Cantorum choir. A live album and DVD of the show titled "Forces of the Northern Night" with an accompanying documentary is scheduled for release in 2012.^[27]

Influences and musical style[link]

Dimmu Borgir's older releases (since 1992 to 1999) are strongly influenced by Darkthrone, Mayhem, Bathory, Emperor, Celtic Frost, Immortal, Venom and Iron Maiden.^[1] The band became more progressive and symphonic through the years; many black metal purists consider the band's second album, Stormblåst, to be "the act's last true contribution to Black Metal".^[28] Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, Dimmu Borgir's third album, "distinguished itself in two important areas, firstly forgoing their native language for English and secondly for its dramatic increase in synthesizer content".^[28] Significant experimentation started approximately around 2000, during the era of Spiritual Black Dimensions (due to the addition of Vortex's clean vocals, and the variety of musical ideas from then-new member Mustis), as well as Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia^[15] due to addition of influences from composers such as Antonín Dvořák, Enya, Richard Wagner and Frédéric Chopin.^[29] As the music strongly differed from the older, rawer black metal style, Jon "Metalion" Kristiansen called Spiritual Black Dimensions “a fine case of melodic, over produced, symphonic Metal. If you like this melodic style I can’t really think of anyone doing it better […]. No, I wouldn’t call this Black Metal. Read the interview with FUNERAL MIST for the right definition of Black Metal.”^[30]

Discography[link]

To see other releases:

Galder and ICS Vortex live on Gods of Metal Festival 2007.

Full-length albums

• For All Tid (1994)
• Stormblåst (1996)
• Enthrone Darkness Triumphant (1997)
• Spiritual Black Dimensions (1999)
• Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia (2001)
• Death Cult Armageddon (2003)
• Stormblåst MMV (2005)
• In Sorte Diaboli (2007)
• Abrahadabra (2010)

Band members[link]

Current[link]

• Shagrath (Stian Tomt Thoresen) – vocals (since 1995), drums (1993–1995), guitars (1995–1997, 2005), bass (2005)
• Silenoz (Sven Atle Kopperud) – rhythm guitars (since 1993), lead vocals (1993–1995), bass (2005)
• Galder (Tom Rune Andersen) – lead guitars (since 2000)
• Daray (Dariusz Brzozowski) – drums, percussion (since 2008)
• Cyrus (Terje Andersen) – bass guitar (since 2010)
• Gerlioz (Geir Bratland) – keyboards, synthesizer (since 2010)^[31]

Former[link]

• Tjodalv (Ian Kenneth Åkesson) – lead guitars (1993–1995), drums, percussion (1995–1999)
• Stian Aarstad – keyboards, piano (1993–1997)
• Brynjard Tristan (Ivar Tristan Lundsten) – bass (1993–1996)
• Nagash (Stian Arnesen) – bass, backing vocals (1996–1999)
• Astennu (Jamie Stinson) – lead guitars (1997–1999)
• Mustis (Øyvind Mustaparta) – keyboards, piano (1998–2009)
• ICS Vortex (Simen Hestnæs) – bass (1999–2009), clean vocals (1998–2009)
• Nicholas Barker – drums, percussion (1999–2005)
• Hellhammer (Jan Axel Blomberg) – drums, percussion (2005–2007)

Session[link]

• Jens Petter – lead guitars (1996–1997)
• Kimberly Goss – keyboards (1997–1998)^[32]
• Aggressor (Carl-Michael Eide) – drums, percussion (1997)
• Archon – lead guitars (2000)
• Reno Kiilerich – drums, percussion (2003–2004)
• Tony Laureano – drums, percussion (2004–2005, 2007–2008)
• Secthdamon (Odd Tony Ingebrigtsen) – bass (2007)
• Snowy Shaw (Tommie Helgesson) – bass, clean vocals (2010)

Timeline[link]

 id:Guitar value:green legend:Guitar
 id:Vocals value:blue legend:Vocals
 id:Vocals_guitar value:magenta legend:Vocals, guitar
 id:Vocals_bass value:purple legend:Vocals, bass
 id:Bass value:red legend:Bass
 id:Keyboards value:yellow legend:Keyboards
 id:Keyboards_back value:orange legend:Keyboards, piano
 id:Drums value:gray(0.45) legend:Drums
 id:Lines value:black legend:Studio releases

 at:12/01/1994 color:black layer:back
 at:01/25/1996 color:black layer:back
 at:05/30/1997 color:black layer:back
 at:03/02/1999 color:black layer:back
 at:03/20/2001 color:black layer:back
 at:09/09/2003 color:black layer:back
 at:11/11/2005 color:black layer:back
 at:04/23/2007 color:black layer:back
 at:09/22/2010 color:black layer:back

 bar:Shagrath text:"Shagrath"
 bar:Silenoz text:"Silenoz"
 bar:Brynjard text:"Brynjard Tristan"
 bar:Stian text:"Stian Aarstad"
 bar:Tjodalv text:"Tjodalv"
 bar:Nagash text:"Nagash"
 bar:Astennu text:"Astennu"
 bar:Mustis text:"Mustis"
 bar:Simen text:"ICS Vortex"
 bar:Galder text:"Galder"
 bar:Nicholas text:"Nicholas Barker"
 bar:Hellhammer text:"Hellhammer"
 bar:Snowy text:"Snowy Shaw"
 bar:Daray  text:"Daray"
 bar:Gerlioz text:"Gerlioz"
 bar:Cyrus text:"Cyrus"

 width:10 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4)
 bar:Shagrath from:01/01/1994 till:01/01/1995 color:Drums
 bar:Shagrath from:01/01/1995 till:end color:Vocals
 bar:Silenoz from:01/01/1994 till:01/01/1995 color:Vocals_guitar
 bar:Silenoz from:01/01/1995 till:end color:Guitar
 bar:Brynjard from:01/01/1994 till:01/26/1996 color:Bass
 bar:Stian from:01/01/1994 till:08/04/1998 color:Keyboards
 bar:Tjodalv from:01/01/1994 till:01/01/1995 color:Guitar
 bar:Tjodalv from:01/01/1995 till:05/10/1999 color:Drums
 bar:Nagash from:01/01/1996 till:05/10/1999 color:Vocals_bass
 bar:Astennu  from:08/04/1998 till:05/10/1999 color:Guitar
 bar:Mustis from:08/04/1998 till:03/01/2009 color:Keyboards_back
 bar:Simen from:08/01/1998 till:05/10/1999 color:Vocals
 bar:Simen from:05/10/1999 till:03/01/2009 color:Vocals_bass
 bar:Galder from:05/10/1999 till:end color:Guitar
 bar:Nicholas from:05/10/1999 till:01/01/2005 color:Drums
 bar:Hellhammer from:01/01/2005 till:05/01/2007 color:Drums
 bar:Snowy from:11/01/2009 till:09/22/2010 color:Vocals_bass
 bar:Daray from:05/01/2007 till:end color:Drums
 bar:Gerlioz from:09/24/2010 till:end color:Keyboards
 bar:Cyrus from:09/24/2010 till:end color:Bass

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Dimmu Borgir

• Official website