Dimmu Borgir: The Novo - Los Angeles, CA - 8/23/26
Norwegian symphonic black metal legends Dimmu Borgir finally announced their first USA tour in more than 15 years. Along with that, they released their tenth studio album Grand Serpent Rising on May 22, 2026. Swedish melodic death metal band Hypocrisy was set to be one of the opening acts but unfortunately had to cancel due to visa issues. Because of that, Hulder would be the only opening act for the tour. The final stop on the tour was The Novo in Downtown Los Angeles, and it was set to be a glorious night as it was a sold-out show.
Dimmu Borgir came out and started their show with Ulvgjeld & Blodsodel (Norwegian for "Wolf Debt & Blood Guilt") off the new album. It's one of the songs on the album that is sung in Norwegian. The sold-out LA crowd erupted in a frenzy as they were happy to witness these Norwegian metal legends. Up next was the classic "Mourning Palace" and fans loved singing along to it. The stage was covered in green light and fog to make the song feel more authentic. The third song was the classic and fan-favorite "Kings of the Carnival Creation." The song features clean vocals from former bassist ICS Vortex who left the band in 2009. For the songs that include his vocals, they used backing tracks. Vocalist Shagrath took a quick break to welcome the audience to the show and tell them how great it is to be back after so many years. The next couple of songs were "Stormblast" and "Reptile." The song "Reptile" hasn't been on their setlist since 2009 and it was a real treat for old school fans. For many fans in attendance, it was their first time witnessing the mighty Dimmu Borgir. The fans were moshing throughout the whole performance as well as crowd surfing. Two more fan-favorites were performed which were "Puritania" and "Gateways." The song "Gateways" features vocalist Agnete Kjølsrud and it's one of Dimmu Borgir's best and most popular songs that is fun and easy to sing along to. Shagrath informed the audience that not only was this show the final stop of the tour, but this next song was also the final song of the night and whole tour. To finish up their set, Dimmu Borgir played their most popular song, "Progenies of the Great Apocalypse." A beautiful performance of the song and it was only matched with the legendary chorus and clean vocals of ICS Vortex. Dimmu Borgir finished up their set, thanked the audience and left the stage. A phenomenal show and hopefully it's not years before they return to the USA once again.
