after i was introduced into hardcore music with nyhc classics through my uncle, i started my own expeditions into the world of electronic guitar-heavy music. in my very early teens i was listening to the new metal wave. korn, coal chamber and the like. with seventeen or eighteen i returned to harder stuff. it started with cradle of filth's "damnation & a day". soon after that i found myself obsessed with this metal mish mash mixed with a dark and menacing touch to it. next to cradle of filth there is only one band that plays this style equally as good - dimmu borgir. and my first record i brought into my possession was "puritanical euphoric misanthropia". boy, what a title.
at first i had the regular cd version but soon after i played it to death, i knew i had to have something cooler looking. i had been a collector of nice music related items ever since, so i scored the cd box-set on ebay which i still have. now that i'm always on the hunt for records that i loved and missed in the first place, "puritanical" was pretty high on the list. nuclear blast did a purple version when this record was initially released in 2002, but looked kind of boring. i discovered that back on black pressed a splatter vinyl version in 2008. that should be more of my taste. problem with it was, it never appeared on ebay neither did it on discogs. and after waiting pissed me off, i did what i did a couple of times in the past. annoying people with e-mails over at dead format. among others was this decent guy named justin.
after exchanging some mails over a quite long period of time, because of justin's involvement in other matters requiring his attention, we struck a deal. i checked popsike and thought my offer was decent enough and because of taking so much time, justin even allowed me a little discount on shipping. thanks again, man! after only one week the record lay at my door. i was finally able to drop the needle on it. and boy, this cracker aged damn well.
songs like "blessings upon the throne of tyranny" or "kings of the carnival creation" are as strong as i had them in mind and simply death metal perfection. together with those dark keyboards and well placed strings, these songs are audio delicacies to my ears. even songs which were the weaker ones of the album ("maelstrom mephisto", "absolute sole right"), getting better and better now. the sound is super tight and nick barker's drumming is outstanding. after gripping relentlessly for ten songs, the record releases you with this sublime outro called "perfection or vanity". what a trip. don't know how many copies were made. nuclear blast/back on black. 2002/2008.
by the way, germany against ghana ended in a draw. that looked exhausting but still on champions course. vorwärts, deutschland!
