Dimmu Borgir / Eclipse Eternal

Taking advantage of a day off from this summer's Ozzfest tour, Dimmu Borgir decided to treat their Ontario fans to a late summer headlining performance. Though it's been less than a year since Dimmu Borgir was in the area last, this time the Norwegian black metallers played an unusual venue for them — a mostly dance nightclub in metal-starved Kitchener. Darkest Hour, though scheduled to show up, had last minute border-crossing problems, so opening duties were left to Toronto's Eclipse Eternal. Their black metal was viciously raw, the corpse-paint was heavy, the props were evil, but except for the lively (or deadly?) vocalist, the band's performance was uninspired — disappointing because Eclipse Eternal are capable of more. Dimmu Borgir, on the other hand, dominated the room. Sure, the sound could have been better — the guitars were mostly lost in a mid-range rumble — and the drummer and keyboardist were tucked in the back of the stage, clearly audible but barely part of the visual spectacle. But Dimmu Borgir were all blistering energy and brutal power, from the orchestral intro through the fiercest of riffs and even subtleties like the clean vocal parts. The set list was spread out across several albums, going back as far as Enthrone Darkness Triumphant, with an unsurprising emphasis on material from Death Cult Armageddon, including the bombastic and heavily-promoted "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse" for the brief encore. The performance still felt too short and the show ended quite early — somewhat anti-climactic after the electricity pouring off the stage so soon before.