Review by UnhinderedbyTalent for diSEMBOWELMENT - Transcendence Into the Peripheral (1993)
Album number 1254 on my list of records I really need to spend more time with is the only full-length from diSEMBOWELMENT. It is not that I have struggled to like the album more that I have never felt like I have been able to give it sufficient attention to warrant writing a review. It has been clear from day one that this is a great album but what has always been equally clear is that no half-measures are permitted when trying to appreciate that greatness and acknowledge it in a review. This is not the type of album you get to put on in the background whilst doing anything else, it is a record which dictates that you spend quality time with it. Spending time to focus on it's ethereal, dissonant and destructive energies is after all time well spent.
Normally when I write reviews about albums I like I bang on for a couple of paragraphs and then around paragraph three or four I go "but..." as I point out the one thing about the record that keeps it a half star away from a nice whole number of stars rating. Well, new year, new me and I will get off my chest now that with Transcendence into the Peripheral my only gripe is the production job which on a couple of occasions I find to be a bit lacking and nearing amateurish. That having been said though for the most part I think the production is perfectly fitting for the sound that comes across from the band, just here and there it slips into being too thin on the guitars or too murky on the drums and I just look at the speakers and "tut" loudly like some grumpy parent listening to the radio with his kids.
Gripe aside, this record is a mixed bag of styles and ideas that all come together superbly without clashing or jarring against each other. For an album so very deeply rooted in death/doom I find it has very black metal approach to the vocals at times and amongst some of the less heavier passages. For each drudgerously (made up word) slow section that feels like a boulder on your chest there's also a scathing edge to both the vocals and guitars when the weight is lifted intermittently from your breastplate. Likewise the atmospheres that get created are superb doomy monoliths that drift like ghost ships on the ocean before bashing into coastal towns and reaping havoc with their undead crew. This balance is effortlessly delivered in that no track ever feels like it has veered off completely and instead you get a real sense of exploration of the band's abilities and influences.
I feel this album often gets mentioned more because it was the only album release by the band and there always appears to be a sense of lost potential. I find this argument has some validity as I truly would love to see what these guys could have delivered next but I do believe that this album is a stunning legacy and one that makes your record collection better just by being there on the shelf.