Concert Review: Blackest of the Black Tour 2008, Featuring Danzig & Dimmu Borgir, Dallas, TX

Thursday, October 30, 2008
Blackest of the Black Tour 2008 Featuring: Danzig & Dimmu Borgir @ Dallas, TX - The Palladium Ballroom

       Rarely does such a perfect grouping of the darkest of heavy metal bands perform together but on October 30^th, the legendary Devil’s Night, the “Blackest of the Black Tour 2008” came to Dallas, Texas, featuring Danzig and Dimmu Borgir with Moonspell, Winds of Plague and Skeletonwitch. All the supporting bands were exceptional but the biggest draw came with Dimmu Borgir and Danzig, the headliners for this night of dark revelry. Like a black mass did fans of Norway’s black metal band Dimmu Borgir take the stage around 9:00pm with a huge banner depicting the cover art to last years album In Sorte Diaboli depicting a 10-foot-tall satanic goat surrounded by a host of faceless clergy and flying fallen angels behind them. As the band gathered, the smoke rising and the light effects creating an eerie glow they began with their epic “Progenies of the Great Apocalypse” from 2003’s Death Cult Armageddon. With vocalist Shagrath, Galder on guitar, I.C.S. Vortex on Bass and backup vocals, Mustis on Keyboards, unfortunately, lead guitarist Silenoz, along with their usual drummer Hellhammer were not present at this concert. Instead, a guitarist and drummer from Suspiria played with DB.
            DB followed with a long set including older and newer songs such as The Serpentine Offering, The Sacrilgous Scorn, In Sorte Diaboli, Reptile, Kings of the Carnival Creation, Puritania, and Spellbound. With an impressive set and usual macabre theatrical performance, DB prepared the crowd for the main headliner Danzig, after an unusually long setup period by the stagehands Danzig was ready to take the stage around 11:00. As the stage was decorated with the classic Danzig skull on basic black and the newer skull with tentacle design from 2004’s “Circle of Snakes”, they began with Wotan’s Procession from the same album before opening with Skincarver from the same album. Danzig then proceeded to play a multitude of songs chronologically from his first, second, third and fourth albums such as Twist of Cain, Am I Demon, Killer Wolf, Her Black Wings, How the Gods Kill, Brand New God, along with Lilin from Danzig 6. Surprisingly they did not perform any songs from Danzig 5 or 7.
            As this tour commemorates the band Danzig’s 20^th anniversary (1988-2008), most do not recall his time as the front man of "Samhain” (1983-1986) after the breakup of the original punk legend “The Misfits” (1977-1983) which Glenn Danzig founded but has since estranged himself from any association with his former band. Look for last years release of Danzig’s double-disc “The Lost Tracks of Danzig” album, which is featured prominently on this years tour T-shirt.

The “Blackest of the Black Tour” 2008 is definitely the most diabolical metal tour in years and as Dimmu Borgir gain more notoriety here in the U.S., so too will Danzig hope to continue shredding for more years to come!