Did you listen to any of their albums besides Demigod and TA. Evangelion kicked ass.
1349 and Cannibal Corpse do sound exactly like Dimmu Borgir, yes.
Evangelion had 1 good song. The opening track. The rest of it was typical Behemoth crap. Demigod and TA were completely fucking horrible. So yeah, in that respect, Evangelion is a step-up.
and yes, when I saw them live with Morbid Angel, I made it a point to listen to all their stuff at least once, the death metal albums a few more times since that's what they were playing. ZKC, Satanica, and Thelema.6 had about 5-7 good songs between the 3 of them.
I put Nile on the same level as Dimmu yes. Nile, Dimmu, Gorgoroth, 1349, Six Feet Under, Cannibal Corpse, Vital Remains, that finnish SFU clone I forget their name, Krisiun, Behemoth, etc. All on the same level of boring shit.
Edit: I'm not a fan of 1349 but I don't recall them being on a level of boring shit. And shame on you for putting Gorgoroth on that list, they were actually fairly good in their prime. Early Vital Remains is ownage. Behemoth is good stuff. Cannibal Corpse have some very inspiring albums. Where the hell do you get your shit?
People can say what they will. Won't change my mind about these shitty bands put on a pedestal by their fans as some sort of metal elite.
and I've yet to hear any Cannibal Corpse that made me change my mind. I can't stand CC, Hate Eternal or Deicide. I like plenty of Florida DM, just not those.