DIMMU BORGIR guitarist and co-founder SILENOZ has offered some candid words about the band's former members, suggesting that not everyone who passed through the ranks pulled their weight. Speaking with Sakis Fragos of Rock Hard Greece, the Norwegian symphonic black metal mainstay reflected on the band's evolving lineup.
"Some people have been riding the coattails of being in this band," Silenoz said, while acknowledging that departing members had also contributed ideas and helped shape DIMMU BORGIR's evolution over the years.
Silenoz suggested that paring the songwriting core back to himself and frontman Shagrath has streamlined the creative process. "It's easier for both Shagrath and myself to come to conclusions with the songs," he explained. He went so far as to frame the 2025 departure of longtime guitarist Galder as something of a "liberation," noting that "Galder wasn't that involved in the songwriting process on this album."
Galder has since been replaced by Kjell Åge "Damage" Karlsen, who joined the band in June 2025.
The comments arrive on the heels of the band's new full-length, "Grand Serpent Rising," released May 22, 2026 via Nuclear Blast Records and recorded with producer Fredrik Nordström in Gothenburg. It is the long-awaited successor to 2018's "Eonian."
DIMMU BORGIR have a busy touring schedule ahead. The band will headline a North American run from August 7-23, 2026 alongside HYPOCRISY, SUFFOCATION and HULDER, before joining forces with BEHEMOTH and DARK FUNERAL for the co-headlining European "In League With Satan" tour in October 2026.