DIMMU BORGIR | HULDER

THE SETUP…

It’s not often that we have a band returning to our city after some time, but 2026 has been full of returns for Toronto. Is this lucky for us? Who truly knows. New music, more often than not, brings a band back to our side of the world; eight years between visits to Toronto and new music, Dimmu Borgir made a successful journey back to North America for ten exclusive dates and, thankfully, to Canada for two nights, bringing along Hulder. With recent album releases from both bands, this was no ordinary Monday night of music, especially not for one of the city’s newest venues, which was not familiar with either the genre or the crowd in attendance.

HULDER

As if the anticipated music-hungry crowd wasn’t already at a feverish pitch from the doors opening to the band finally taking the stage, a bit of a pre-recorded intro got a loud reaction from the crowd, followed by a continued slow horn section and a gentle lead into the set, and then it was non-stop ferocity. Much to the delight of the patient Toronto crowd, this black metal offering from Hulder was some of the finest from the Pacific Northwest, USA. Although there were moments of brutal black metal, there were moments in the performance to hear touches of melodies in between the onslaught of not only the machine gun blast beats from the drums, which absolutely dominated the venue speakers from front to back, but also the rest of the band as well, which showed great poise, that of a more experienced or veteran band, especially Hulder; the vocalist and guitarist absolutely had a Goliath-like presence.

Beginning this massive tour opportunity, the band just released the new album Verbolgen on August 7th, the third full-length to date. Only two songs were played from this recent release, but the setlist was kept as recent as possible, rather than focusing on a selection of songs that didn’t cover the discography. For over 30 minutes, the band triumphantly got through the set with minor audio issues, completely won me over as a fan, and, most importantly, garnered the admiration of the audience inside History Nightclub. I’m sure many didn’t know the band at all before this night but were well acquainted by the end of the set, and even though the performance was very enjoyable with the most abrupt ending possible, the band Hulder definitely proved to us all why they were on this bill and opening up for such a legendary band.

SETLIST
‘A Beacon From Darkened Skies’, ‘View From Nemeton’, ‘Sylvan Awakening’, ‘Verses In Oath’, ‘Vessel Of Suffering’, ‘Drie Raven’, ‘…And We Shall Sing’

DIMMU BORGIR

There was a definite tension in the air just before Dimmu Borgir hit the stage, with a lot of anticipation for what this night would bring to the crowd, seemingly all present for a Monday mass of the finest Norwegian black metal. Starting off with an intro tied to ‘Ulvgjeld & Blodsodel’, a single from the newest album Grand Serpent Rising, with no members on stage, the tone was already set: horns, chants, and a repetitive tick-tock. As the members of the band slowly made their way to the stage, the audience vocalized their arrival enthusiastically after 8 years; for some, this was a new experience, crossing the band off a bucket list or seeing them again. With great seriousness, attitude, and aggression, the band made that wait so worth it to see them all command the stage in little to no time.

After this first song and much movement on the floor, another eruption of joy happened for the keyboard intro of ‘Mourning Palace’. Recently, this song has been special for me but also for a select few in the crowd, as this song was covered in the Toronto metal community, and to hear it from the source was super special. The incredible attention to detail slowly presented itself over the course of the performance: the aesthetics of what everyone was wearing, the face paint for a majority of the members, and even the finer details with blood on the arm of Damage on lead guitars, who also made time in the set for a guitar solo performance just after the song ‘Ascent’ that screamed classic heavy metal with shredding riffs, dive bombs, and soaring whammy bar action throughout this brief pause from black metal.

For close to 90 minutes, Dimmu Borgir took the crowd on an incredible journey and, at times, a rollercoaster of the most extreme and fast tempos throughout the three-plus-decade discography, making sure to touch on every single album except for the first full-length, an absolute masterclass on the genre that would have satisfied even the toughest critic of the genre. There were audio issues whenever the pre-programmed orchestral music came through on some songs, and even the guest vocals for my favourite song, ‘Gateways’, were just muted compared to everyone else on stage, who were at full volume. Also worth mentioning, the Toronto crowd was the most alive for this song. For this performance, though, it was an absolute pleasure to hear the keyboard/organ playing at a volume that complemented the others on stage as well.

With the 8 years of time in between visits, the band left it all on the stage, a definite show that could be bragging rights for those who showed up; there were no promises of a quick return for the band, a great reminder to show up as much as you can, especially to such an exclusive show and rare band to visit North America truly once and for all.

SETLIST
‘Ulvgjeld & Blodsodel’, ‘Mourning Palace’, ‘Kings Of The Carnival Creation’, ‘Council Of Wolves And Snakes’, ‘As Seen In The Unseen’, ‘Ascent’, ‘Stormblåst’, ‘Reptile’, ‘The Insight And The Catharsis’, ‘The Serpentine Offering’, ‘Puritania’, ‘Gateways’, ‘Progenies Of The Great Apocalypse’