Tonight I arrived at the gig with some degree of trepidation; the reason for my misgivings being that only two weeks previous I was practically robbed at this very same venue - and not by some tracksuit wearing youths either, but by four ageing men in leather.  Of course that isn't quite true and I don't envisage being sued by Manowar's lawyers, but in the words of the great Johnny Rotten "You ever get the feeling you've been cheated?" You see that band not only failed to deliver the great spectacle they had promised for the extortionate ticket price charged but also delivered their set at a curiously subdued sound level, which was especially odd from the band once featured in the Guinness Book Of Records for being the loudest band in the world.

So would Norway's Kings Of Black Metal deliver on a cold Sunday night in the Welsh capital?

Advertised as "An Evening with Dimmu Borgir" the band stated when they announced the tour that the band would play a classic album in its entirety from their back catalogue and would leave it to the fans in each area to decide which album that would be by voting on their website - a simple and fantastic idea if you ask me.

We enter the venue and head to the bar getting our drinks just in time as the band take to the stage. In Cardiff the fans have chosen the classic album 'Enthrone Darkness Triumphant', this album being a special album for the band in more ways than one, it being the first album to be recorded in English as opposed to their native Norwegian it's also the band's first album released on the Nuclear Blast label and the first album to feature the now familiar Dimmu Borgir logo compared to the old Black Metal style logo.

As the band tear straight into opening track 'Mourning Palace' you realise how accomplished the musicianship is in the Dimmu camp. The band may only feature two original members in their ranks these days in the shape of vocalist Shagrath and guitarist Silenoz (even though second guitarist Galder has been in the band for over a decade) yet somehow Shagrath and Co have the great ability to find accomplished musicians to fill the available positions whenever they become vacant.

Tonight whether your favourite track is 'A Succubus In Rapture', 'The Night Masquerade' or 'Tormentor Of Christian Souls' it doesn't really matter as the band play the entire album to perfection.  Personally I cannot find any negative criticism of this musically - in fact the only criticism I can add to tonight's gig is "where are all the metal fans?" Okay the hall isn't exactly empty but neither is it the capacity crowd the band so rightly deserves.

As promised the band leave the stage for a short interval.

The second half of the set begins with a drum solo before the band return for a set comprising of songs from four of their other albums. Opening the second set fully with 'Vredesbyrd' from the 'Death Cult Armageddon' album, before heading into 'Kings Of The Carnival Creation' from the 'Puritanical Euphonic Misanthropia' album.

Personally I didn't discover the band until the aforementioned album and I have to say unlike many Dimmu purists I adore the more recent albums in particular the 'In Sorte Diaboli' album, in fact they end up playing my favourite track 'The Serpentine Offering' a little later in the evening, but not before that they also play a trilogy of tracks from their most recent album 'Abrahadabra'.  An album I can only describe as grandiose and so overstated in its delivery you can imagine the songs to be featured in a Tolkien soundtrack.

The songs from the album 'Dimmu Borgir', 'Ritualist' and 'Gateways' are played to perfection, leaving me feeling elated as when I first heard about the tour. Then came a quick blast through 'Progenies Of The Great Apocolypse' from the Death Cult Armageddon' album to please the older fans in attendance. One final blast of 'Persection Of Vanity' and the band leave the stage for the final time tonight whilst thankfully restoring my faith in metal.

Two hours of fantastic Black Metal for less than twenty quid, you certainly can't complain with that...