Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia is the fifth studio album by Norwegian symphonic black metal band Dimmu Borgir. It was released by Nuclear Blast Records in 2001. This is the first album to feature drummer Nick Barker, guitarist Galder, and ICS Vortex on bass. It is also the first album upon which the band used real orchestral instrumentation besides keyboards and the first of the three subsequent albums recorded in Studio Fredman in Gothenburg, Sweden, with producer Fredrik Nordström. The drum sound on this particular album strongly relies on using triggered samples, thus giving it a distinct drum machine sounding result. According to Nick Barker, the idea to this recording approach at that time was heavily inspired by his friend Hellhammer and him doing the same thing on Mayhem's album Grand Declaration of War. Specifically, the bass drum sound uses a direct sample from the beginning of "5 Minutes Alone" by Pantera off their 1994's Far Beyond Driven album. Also the exact tom drum sound used on this album was later re-used on Reaping the World Winds, debut album by Dimension F3H, which was mixed by Nordström as well.
A remixed and remastered version (again by Fredrik Nordström) of the album was released on 28 October 2022. This version features less prominent and more natural sounding drums as well as less volume on samples and keyboards among other things.
Critical reception
AllMusic wrote, "A minority of purists might see this as too much of a departure, a complaint that would have more merit if Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia wasn't as exquisite as it is diverse."
Track listing
Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia (Remixed & Remastered)
Personnel Dimmu Borgir Shagrath – lead vocals, keyboards Silenoz – rhythm guitar Galder – lead guitar ICS Vortex – bass guitar, clean vocals (3, 4, 8, 10, & "Burn in Hell") Mustis – keyboards, piano and samples Nicholas Barker – drums and percussion
Guest musicians Andy LaRocque – guitar solo on "Devil's Path" (2000 version) Charlie Storm – sample manipulation on "Puritania"
Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra (tracks 1–4, 6–8, & 10–11) Orchestration arranged and conducted by Gaute Storås Annica Kroon, Annika Hjelm, Bertil Lindh, Catherine Claesson, Nicola Boruvka, Per Enokson, Thore Svedlund – violins Henrik Edström, Nils Edin, Per Högberg – violas Grzegorz Wybraniec, Johan Stern – cellos Bo Eklund – double bass
Technical Fredrik Nordström – mixing, engineering Jan Baan – assistant engineer Alf Børjesson – cover concept, artwork Thomas Ewerhand – layout
Charts Chart Peakposition
References