Dimmu Borgir - Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia

List Price: $15.98
Our Price: $7.27
You Save: $8.71 (55%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $3.98 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases

Music CD Cover

• DIMMU BORGIR PURITANICAL EUPHORIC MISANTHROPIA

Free Music Notes for Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia

Free Music Review: Nearly Flawless
Hit: 5 Stars

I do consider this album black metal. Some don't, because it is mainstream. I find that idiotic. But whether it is black metal or not, if you lik extreme music, you should at least give this album a listen. The beginning track, "Fear & Wonder", might throw you off if you've never heard Dimmu before, but as soon as "Blessing Upon the Throne of Tyranny" kicks in, the peace and quiet of "F&W" is shattered. Your listening experience has begun.

The musicianship on this album is flawless. Shagrath's vocals are some of the best I've heard in the genre. Galder is by far the best lead guitarist the band ever had, and he creates some amazing and catchy riffs. Silenoz is as good as ever with his rhythm guitar and the lyrics are still full of complicated words that you actually have to LOOK UP to understand. Vortex is a better bassist than Nagash (I do have a lot of respect for Nagash, especially for his band, Kovenant) and creates solid, yet complicated basslines. His clean vocals are very scare; he probably sings a maximum of 12 verses through the entire record, but his voice is mesmorizing and unique. Mustis is back again, who, like Galder, is better at playing his instrument than any previous member. A lot of this album's melodic parts are done with the orchastra, but you can still hear the keyboards, and Mustis does all the orchastra parts on his keyboards when the band plays live. And finally, another new addition: Nick Barker, who I regard as one of the best metal drummers ever. His beats (and sometimes, beatINGs), are always accurate and he always suprises you with what he does next. His patterns are very diffulcult to duplicate (I've tried) and he changes up often, but he has to, because the music does. I'm sad to say this, but Barker is no longer in the band. Dimmu has recruited a new drummer (but only temporarily, until they find a permanent replacement). I forget his name, but I know he used to play in a band called Vile amoung others and he hold the title of "Fastest Feet in the World" making almost 800 double bass hits in one minute. And now that you've been introduced to the players, here's a breakdown of my opinion on the songs:

1. Fear & Wonder-No Rating-Though this is just a very short orchastra intro, it perfectly sets the tone for what's ahead. It leaves you with a sense of peace, but it's all shattered when the next song starts. But this song does give you a glimpse of the beauty you will hear throughout the album, and I think that was the point.
2. Blessings Upon the Throne of Tyranny-5/5-From the rapid opening guitar riff, you can tell this is going to be a heavy one. Great vocals by Shagrath, and awesome breakdowns. Rapid drumming, and the bass and rhythm guitar keep the rhythm superbly throughout the entire song. There's also lots of keyboards in this one.
3. Kings of the Carnival Creation-5/5-This truly is an epic. Almost eight minute in lengths, the song starts of peacefully then goes into an ultra catchy riff. I know black metal and the word "catchy" don't sound good together, but Dimmu pulls it off. But the thing I love most about this song is how the pull off all the heaviness, but then turn it into a beautiful melodic bridge, containing Vortex's atmospheric vocals and an amazing solo by Galder, and then go into the heavy part again to end the track. This is truly one of the best black metal songs over. Great lyrics, drums, bass, guitars, vocals, EVERYTHING.
4. Hybrid Stigmata-The Apostasy-2/5-Ehh...I don't really care for this song. I guess the stakes were set pretty high to follow up a track like "Kings of the Carnival Creation", but this track doesn't fail completely. It's got great drumming, some complicated bass work, and some good riffs. But I usually end up skipping this one.
5. Architecture of a Genocidal Nature-5/5-This is another overall heavy song, starting off with a fast riff and going into Shagrath's vocals. However, this song does have some melodic parts, like the little breakdown with the keyboards, bass and drums (great double bass work) after the first verse. I also like the "Devouring their flesh with a razorblade smile" part. It just sounds so macabre, yet beautiful.
6. Puritania-5/5-If you hate black metal, I mean, if you absolutely DESPISE black metal, you could still end up lining this song. No doubt the most experimental thing Dimmu have ever done. The drumming is insane, and so are the riffs. Great keyboards, though they aren't too dominant. The lyrics are awesome as well...but when aren't they? Another one of Dimmu's best.
7. Indoctrination-5/5-This song is more back to normal, but it is still a little different sounding from the rest of the CD. Another song where the band mixes heavy and melodic into one. The highlight for me is definetly the part where it goes silent (the second time) with the violins playing a little, then the whole band comes in, and the guitar and bass copy the riff the violins were doing. I love it.
8. The Maelstrom Mephisto-3/5-Another song that I don't really care for. Nothing really stands out about it, and I usually skip it.
9. Absoulute Sole Right-4/5-It starts out with dynamic and fast riffing and drums, and goes into some triky changes after that. The lyrics are great, as usual. But this suffers from the same problem the last track does (though not as much, and I always listen to this one); there's not much that's standout. But it is still a good track
10. Sypozium-5/5-Another one of the album's best. Great orchastra work and Vortex's vocals are outstanding, as usual. In fact, this is the only song Vortex has ever written the lyrics too, and his lyrics are good, just not as good as Silenoz's. But this is still one badass song.
11. Perfection or Vanity-4/5-An instrumental outro. Beatiful and melodic. This song would be flawless if only they added more new riffs in. They repeat the main part way too many times and it kind of drags the song down. But this is still a great little track.

So there you go. This is definetly an essential black metal release and I highly recommend it to long time fans of extreme music or a start for people looking to get away from the bulls*it MTV spews at them all day. SUPPORT DIMMU!

Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia Poster

Hard Rock & Metal Music CDs

• Music > Styles
• World Music
• Rock