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57 of 63 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A word to all the naysayers AND the believers..., January 2, 2004
You know, I've always believed in the simple philosophy of thinking for oneself, but I have to admit to letting the narrowmindedness of others occasionally blind my path. Take for example the music of Dimmu Borgir. I've been plunging pretty deeply into the bleak nihilistic darkness of Norway's most evil black metal maestros for the last several years now, and up until recently, I had honestly not heard ONE SINGLE NOTE of these guys' music. Why? Because if you listen to the average rantings of the supposed "true" black metal consumer, Dimmu Borgir are the post-'91 Metallica of the scene. "They're overproduced", "they went Cradle of Filth", "they sold out", "they're too keyboard-driven", yada yada yada... And guess what? I fell for it, hook, line, and sinker.Well, about two months ago, I was looking for something new and FINALLY decided to risk the cost of a CD on 'Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia'. Today, as I write this with "Blessings Upon the Throne of Tyranny" blasting away in the background, I'm eating crow with a huge evil grin on my face and washing it down with 24 year old Scotch. This is far and away one of the best metal albums I've heard in YEARS. How anyone could listen to this and NOT love it has me utterly bewildered. Okay, so maybe they don't fit into the way-too-conservative category of "true" Norwegian black metal. Indeed, it IS a bit difficult to categorize them at all. You've got the melodic keyboards of Emperor, the theatrics of CoF (see the band members' photos in the enclosed booklet, the one of Galder being particularly amusing...heh heh), the mid-paced overdrive of In Flames and early Entombed, and the classic punch of old school metal with more than a few blastbeats thrown in to keep things lively. But if I had to compare them to any one band - and this is REALLY gonna floor you - it would have to be QUEEN. The way Dimmu Borgir craft each and every song into a dramatic little opera that completely defies any kind of confined category (and I should add that I STILL consider it to be "black metal") makes me think of the magic that once poured from the minds of the late Freddie Mercury and Brian May...they realized that nothing instrumentally or stylistically should be barred from their imagination, and this comparison is probably the highest possible compliment I can give them. And then there's the production. While there are certainly times when an overly clean production is not the best approach to take (see my review of Emperor's 'Prometheus'), I for one appreciate it when a band goes to the time and trouble (not to mention the expense) of presenting their material in a way that I can clearly hear EVERY instrument without losing one iota of the music's overall feel and heaviness. Folks, if you've spent mega-bucks on a true audiophile system, be prepared to have it tested. And you know how clean vocals most often come off sounding laughable when a black metal singer who normally troll-screeches tries to do them? Well, even Shagrath knows his limitations, and so bassist Vortex does them. And exceedingly well, I should add...he actually reminds me of the singer from Yes, if you can believe that..?! I'm not going to waste any more space going into the individual songs here, as other longtime fans have done so already, other than to say that every song on here is simply amazing, with my particular favorites being "Kings of the Carnival Creation", "The Maelstrom Mephisto" and the aforementioned "Blessings...", ESPECIALLY coming on the heels of the beautiful and haunting opening instrumental, "Fear and Wonder"...aww, man... After buying this CD, I've since picked up 'Death Cult Armageddon', 'Enthrone Darkness Triumphant', and the awesome 'World Misanthropy' DVD, and I won't be stopping there. To all the believers, congratulations on teaching an old dog some new tricks. And to all the "truist" naysayers, may I simply suggest that you GROW UP.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Symphonic Black Metal at it's hardest!!, December 4, 2005
Dimmu Borgir is:
Vocals - Shagrath
Guitar - Galder
Guitar - Silenoz
Keyboard - Mustis
Bass - Vortex
Drums - Nicholas Barker
Dimmu Borgir is Norway,s premier black metal band at its best!! This album is great, not containing a sore song anywhere. The musicianship is extraordinary and the production is much better than that of your typical black metal band. The music on this cd is more brutal than "Death Cult Armeggedon," the band's newest album, but this album contains more musical shifts and more complex art within each individual song. The addition of an orchestra fills in those eerie evil moments. Although it is not a full blown orchestra, such as the one from Prague that they used for "Death Cult Armaggedon", it still adds to its complex musical structure.
Of, course, there is one downfall of their lyrical structure: It reveals they are blatantly satanic. The lyrics are well thought out and VERY complex, but once you realize what its trying to say it goes downhill from there..... But through most of the cd it wouldn't really matter because you can't really interpret what Shagrath is saying. One thing I do appreciate about Shagrath's singing is that he doesn't have violent screams for singing. Instead he sings in a deep thrash voice, which allows the listener to listen without having to clench his face every time he hears Shagrath singing. When Vortex comes along though, you can really sense the world getting darker around you. His voice is hauntingly awesome and it adds to the demonic aspect of the music.
1. Fear and Wonder - 5/5 - Excellent peice performed by Dimmu's guest orchestra. The violins and cellos prepares you with a dark feel of the music so you'll be prepared for the rest of the cd.
2. Blessing's Upon the Throne of Tyranny - 5/5 - Awesome title, even better music. There are many riff switches in this song, keeping you headbanging nonstop. A couple mini breakdowns too, which are always nice additions.
3. King's of the Carnival Creation - 5/5 - Great song, diverse from any other black metal song I have heard. The verse contains lighting fast heretas (drum term) performed by Nick on the double bass. This is first song on cd that introduces Vortex's clean haunting voice.
4. Hybrid Stygmata: The Apostacy - 5/5 - A beast of a song, begin with an orchestra, and Shagrath screams out of nowhere, thus beginning the headbanging. Catchy guitar riffs backed up by the orchestra. The song starts to go peaceful when Vortex starts to sing. 4 or 5 tempo changes within the song also.
5. Architecture of a Genocidal Nature - 4/5 - One of those songs where you don't know what's gonna happen next. First 100 mph music, then it goes to soft style, and back to the 100 mph music.
6. Puritania - 6/5 - This song blew me away. "We do away with your kind" and then came the countdown and out popped the guitar. Best song on the cd, but unfortunately, the shortest. This song is the easiest to understand lyrically. It's basically about cleansing the world of the human race.
7. IndoctriNation - 5/5 - Fastest song on the cd besides "Maelstrom Mephisto". Very melodic sections between the verses. Then out of nowhere comes an orchestral solo with a voice speaking in the background. Intensely evil.
8. The Maelstrom Mephisto - 5/5 - Another great song. THE fastest song on the cd. I'm surprised Nick didn't pass out while recording this because he is amazingly fast. My favorite appearance of Vortex is on this song, his voice is so hauntingly beautiful. Especially when backed up by orchestral and drum movements.
9. Absolute Sole Right - 4/5 - Not the best song on the album in my opinion, but still excellent if comparing to other band's music. Another speed it up song like "The Maelstrom Mephisto" and "IndoctriNation."
10. Sympozium - 5/5 - Best orchestral tune I think. If you take out the drums, it sounds like the intro to a horror movie. Completely haunting, and the guitar parts in this song reminds me of Children of Bodom's style. Shagrath's voice adds to the haunting aspects of the song.
11. Perfection or Vanity - 5/5 - It would have been a 6, but it was too short and repetive. AWESOME melody though. A kind of haunting song but also kind of gives you a sense of hope and awakening. You could almost, ALMOST classify it as a concept album if you look at it theme and morale wise.
This was great Dimmu Borgir album and I HIGHLY recommend any metal listener to check it out.........IMMEDIATELY!!!!
John
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Actually 4 1/2 Stars, March 21, 2001
I work in a record store so I was able to hear Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia before it's release date. I have been looking forward to it's release so that I could find out other people's opinions of this record. I have to rely Amazon to get other opinions because I don't know of anybody else in my town that listens to black metal. The first thing that stood out to me on this album was the excellent production. It sounds great. Especially the drums. One complaint about Dimmu Borgir's previous release, Spiritual Black Dimensions, is that the drums weren't up enough in the mix (especially the bass drum.) That is not the case here. I am not a fan of Cradle of Filth, so when I heard that Nicholas was replacing Tjodalv (one fo my favorite drummers) I was bummed. Well Nicholas has totally earned my respect here. I had no idea that he coud pull off blast-beats like this. I think that his style fits in well with Shagrath's/Silenoz's/Mustis's songwriting. I was glad to find out that Vortex is now a permanent member of the band. His clean vocals are a real treat. I enjoyed his work with Borknagar and Arcturus as well as his contribution to Spiritual Black Dimentions. I wish that he sang a little more on this album because his clean voice is a great compliment to Shagrath's screech. The music seems to be a little more guitar-driven than usual. While the keyboards are still very prominent (it wouldn't be Dimmu Borgir otherwise) the songs seem to revolve more around guitar riffs. It sounds great though. Another thing worth mentioning is Galder of Old Man's Child. As I understand, he did not join the band until after most of the songwriting was completed. He mostly just played the guitar solos. So if you are like me, we will have to wait until the next album to find out how he will truly contribute to the band's style. (I am happy that he will continue Old Man's Child as well as play guitar for DM.) There is really only one thing that I am a little uncomfortable with on this album, and that is the sampling. There are some songs that have samples here and there. They don't really hurt the songs, but they don't really seem necessary. In my opnion, the last thing that black metal needs is any hint of 1990's style radio-metal. But if they wanted them there, that is ok with me (After all, it is their band.) I just hope that it isn't a sign of things to come. I am not worried about Dimmu Borgir getting any radio play anytime soon, I just hope they don't start to put alot of electronic elements in their music. Overall, I am very pleased with this album. If you are already a fan of Dimmu Borgir, you should not be dissappointed by PEM. They are heavier than ever, and the elements that make their music beautiful are still there. Lyricaly, the album has nothing new to offer, but I doubt that anyone expects to hear much of anything else besides all the Satan stuff (personally, I think it gets old quick.) But Dimmu Borgir is all about the music for me. The band may not appreiciate this point of view, but I don't feel that I have to be Satanic to enjoy their CDs. If you are new to Dimmu Borgir, I recomend buying this album, but I would start off your collection with Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. It is my favorite release of their's and I think that it is one of the best black metal albums ever. One last thing.....Cool pictures in the sleeve.
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