Puritanical Euphoric Misanthropia

Background

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.