Masters of the dark art

DIMMU BORGIR got booed at Ozzfest. Not for long, though.

It was 2003, the pre-sundown bake was rising from the San Bernardino desert, and the six Norwegians took stage in whiteface, spiked armor and black leather. The daylight made them look like dusty waxworks; an unimpressed and fully lubricated mob bellowed for Slayer, due next.

Then Dimmu Borgir shut them up. A torrent of kick drum, a cathedral effusion of keyboards, an arsenal of doomy guitar riffs, all punctuated with bestial roars -- if you were looking for heavy music, it was hard to argue with this.

Norway is the stronghold of the religion-hating genre known as black metal. And for over a decade, Dimmu Borgir (Icelandic for “dark fortress”) has ranked as a black eminence, rivaled worldwide only by England’s Cradle of Filth. Borgir’s new CD, “In Sorte Diaboli,” is the first extreme-metal album to top Norway’s pop charts; regular U.S. forays have also earned the group growing legions of corpse paint-smeared fans, many of them women.

Relating the journey of a medieval Christian who discovers he’s Satan-spawn, “In Sorte Diaboli” is Borgir’s most direct crossover thrust.

The multilayered sound is clearer, the group’s epic fusillades are condensed to five-minute projectiles, and the harsh woof of Shagrath alternates with the melodic lamentations of bassist Vortex, one of the few modern-metal vocalists who can sing clean without sounding whipped. From Wagnerian pomp (“The Serpentine Offering”) to guitarist Galder’s nocturnal riffs (“The Conspiracy Unfolds”) to keyboardist Mustis’ orchestral lilt and a percussive clip-clop reminiscent of the Beach Boys’ “Pet Sounds” (“The Fallen Arises”), you get a smorgasbord here. Raise your tankards, troops.

By phone from Edmonton on tour, guitarist Silenoz, Dimmu Borgir’s main lyricist (in English and sometimes Norwegian), showed a thoughtful nature -- and a sense of humor -- about the mythic name he chose.

“Silenus was known for debaucheries when it comes to drink. He had a crooked nose and quite a beer gut, which I also have,” Silenoz says. “The similarities are uncanny.”

Mythology in general, though, doesn’t obsess Silenoz, who claims little use for books. An Austrian professor helped with the Latin title “In Sorte Diaboli,” which according to Silenoz means “a fateful connectivity with the devil.” In case you missed the point, Borgir’s new sword-flashing video prominently features a snake, the Tempter’s alter ego.

Black metal’s opposition to religion is actually a moral stance. “Most wars are directly connected to religious conflicts,” Silenoz says. “Look at Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans. That’s one of many reasons to go up against organized religion.”

As for sound, Dimmu Borgir had employed real orchestras on the last couple of albums, but keyboards create the illusion effectively on “Diaboli,” although no one in the group knows how to read music.

Does Silenoz listen to classical? “I really like Beethoven and Wagner -- you know, the heavy composers -- maybe because they’re close to how some metal is built up,” he says. “On my iPod, I have everything from bluegrass and country to the most brutal grindcore.”

How about film scores? “Yeah, very much so. Especially the big theatrical movies like ‘Lord of the Rings.’ And when I saw ‘The Red Dragon,’ I found a lot of killer stuff in that.”

Fantastic.

And tonight’s show at the Wiltern might hold some extra energy. “It will be Norway’s national day,” Silenoz says. (The country’s constitution was signed May 17, 1814.) “So there’s probably gonna be some extra celebration.”

weekend@latimes.com

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Dimmu Borgir

What: Dimmu Borgir, with Unearth, DevilDriver and Kataklysm

Where: The Wiltern, 3790 Wilshire Blvd., L.A.

When: 7:15 tonight

Price: $29

Info: (213) 388-1400; www.wiltern.com