Dimmu Borgir
Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia

THE REVIEW

"Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia", the most violent of their career and in many ways considered as one of the best black metal albums. It's a symphonic brutal black that would frighten even the most violent Cannibal Corpse, with Barker going insane on the drums, this group is truly destructive. Additionally, the cover features a damsel, unfortunately sawed off limbs, arms, and head, completely nude on a pentagram. It's all to my liking because Dimmu Borgir is one of my favorite black bands, not only because they are the only decent ones in Symphonic Black but also due to the beautiful rhythm section by Barker, who has significantly improved since leaving Cradle Of Filth.

The album opens with Fear And Wonder, which is a classical music intro. Blessings Upon The Throne Of Tyranny, is a truly destructive death black attack, with beautiful melodies, giving black metal a new sense of true beauty; then the drumming is really terrifying, clearly showing Barker's improvement since leaving Cradle Of Filth, there's a beautiful double bass drum, plus those deep voices that were so loved by Megadeth during the 'Rust In Peace' era (talking about another thing here…). Kings Of The Carnival Creation, is one of Dimmu Borgir's most famous songs, the melodies are not lacking, effectively making black much more aggressive, then Shagrath always gives his best with fantastic growls and screams, never missing the keyboards. Gorgeous guitar solos are also present. Hybrid Stigmata - The Apostasy is a song that at first can be deceiving, because it's very groove and not very melodic, even if the orchestra is always present, the keyboardist in this song showcases great technical skills. This is precisely the secret of Dimmu Borgir, the dark and melodic, orchestral, and very theatrical atmospheres. Architecture Of A Genocidal Nature is very thrash in the Destruction style, enriched with a beautiful rhythmic base, equipped with stunning keyboards, and a terrifying bass that is very hard to find in Dimmu Borgir, another reason why this album is the most powerful in their career, the keyboards are beautiful, yet they are broken by a very destructive and fast Thrash Black.

Indocrination is Dimmu Borgir's most brutal song, indeed you can also hear that magnificent grindcore nuance (I'm ready for criticism…), which they love so much, the guitars are heavier than ever, the drums perform beautiful solos. The very symphonic keyboards do solos with the guitars that are somewhat amusing. Then they return to the destruction from where they started. The Maelstrom Mephisto, there's always that brutal death element akin to Nile, which does not leave you indifferent during listening. Then there are the lyrical parts, beautifully theatrical yet also vulgar and satanic. The guitars have never been so aggressive in Dimmu Borgir, the basses have never been so present. Sympozium, begins with keyboards that in turn mix with magnificent guitar parts, which later become a bit more in the Swedish Death Metal style, in the tradition of Entombed, Dismember, and Dissection. The lyrics in this song are very present and accompanied by a Gothic Rock base, returning to the Swedish death metal from which they originated.

The album concludes with Perfection Or Vanity, an instrumental melodic outro with Gothic/Doom/Dark bases enriched with beautiful keyboards.