DIMMU BORGIR frontman Shagrath is featured in a new interview with Allison Stewart at the Chicago Tribune. An excerpt is available below.

Q: The premise of this piece will be that Dimmu Borgir is the best metal band that you've probably never heard of. So go ahead, make my case for me. Don't be modest.

Shagrath: "Why we are the best? Dimmu Borgir is a band that sticks out from the masses in the world of underground music. We incorporate a lot of different stuff, everything from classic music to heavy metal, thrash metal, black metal, death metal. No matter what kind of music you like, you're always able to find something in our music. We also have our visual side, something more theatrical, more interesting."

Q: Do you feel like you're through all the difficulties of the past year? Or are you still going through it?

Shagrath: "Everything happens for a reason. When we fire people or people leave, there's always a reason for that. We needed to do a change to continue in the direction we wanted to be. We're very happy with the situation right now."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

Dimmu Borgir's label, Nuclear Blast, recently issued the following update:

"Dimmu Borgir's North American tour is set to launch this Friday, and the band has decided to launch Abrahadabra's new artwork with this trek.

Art-wise, it’s a subtle change and will IN NO WAY alter the musical content of this album. Moving forward, this new cover will grace all the different versions once the album is re-pressed, so the original pressing is now... you’ve got it... a collector’s item.

Again, it is ABSOLUTELY the same album musically with the same content. ONLY the artwork has changed."

Check out the new artwork below:

Dimmu Borgir achieved their highest ever chart debut in Canada with their ninth album, Abrahadabra. The album scanned 1,308 copies in Canada, landing at #30 on the Nielsen Soundscan Canada Top 200 albums chart. Abrahadabra also landed at #4 on the Nielsen Soundscan Canada Top Hard Music albums chart.

In the US, Abrahadabra sold 9,400 copies in its first week of release, landing at #42 on the Billboard 200 chart.

The tracklist is as follows:

'Xibir' (2:50)

'Born Treacherous' (5:02)

'Gateways' (5:10)

'Chess With The Abyss' (4:08)

'Dimmu Borgir' (5:35)

'Ritualist' (5:13)

'The Demiurge Molecule' (5:29)

'A Jewel Traced Through Coal' (5:16)

'Renewal' (4:11)

'Endings And Continuations' (5:58)

Check out the 'Gateways' video below: