Review by Ben for Dismember - Death Metal (1997)
A crushing improvement over Massive Killing Capacity, but the bulk of it just passes by.
If you’d asked me to put my money on what Dismember would produce in 1997, I would have first checked out what Entombed were up to before speculating. It may be harsh to suggest that Dismember are merely a clone of the Swedish death metal founders, but it’s hard to ignore when both bands seem to be on almost the same trajectory. The first two albums by both outfits were built on the same filthy riffed template and while all four albums are varying degrees of awesome, it was hard to listen to one band without thinking of the other. Entombed clearly knew that the style had a use by date, so they used 1993’s Wolverine Blues album to launch death ’n’ roll, a new subgenre that combines the same death metal sound with hard rock. Not to be outdone, Dismember’s third album followed suit, with Massive Killing Capacity containing elements of death ’n’ roll as well as some melodic death metal tendencies. By the time 1997 came around it became clear that Entombed were set on taking death ’n’ roll as far as it could go, so one could only assume that Dismember would tag along for the ride.
I’m glad I didn’t hand over any cash as Dismember threw a curve ball for their fourth album. Unlike Entombed, Dismember cut out (dismembered?) a lot of the softer commercial aspects that had crept into their music and went back to their heavier roots. One can only assume that the band really wanted their fans to know about it too as they gave the album the apt name Death Metal, which is a title that didn’t fit too comfortably for their previous outing. The cleaner vocals are gone, and the death ‘n’ roll aspect has all but disappeared. What Death Metal offers up is quite unique, at least for its time, being a mixture of Stockholm and Gothenburg death metal sounds. On the one hand, there are quite a few In Flames sounding melodies and leads going on, but then the enveloping and highly distorted sound is still firmly covered in old school Sunlight Studios grime. It’s not something many bands have attempted and Dismember almost pull it off. Unfortunately, a lot of the melodies don’t grip the way they might with more clarity, and they occasionally just sound out of place amongst the crushing fuzz.
All this said, there are quite a few tracks that forego this odd combination (Silent Are the Watchers’ transitions are terribly jarring) and instead focus on what Dismember do best. There’s a lot of presence to these tracks with huge riffs, relentless no-nonsense drumming and Matti’s aggressive vocals. Of Fire, Misanthropic, Bred For War and huge closer Mistweaver are really very good and are certainly better than anything off Massive Killing Capacity. But most of the remaining tracks are around three minutes or below in length and they’re over before they’ve done anything to distinguish themselves. I find myself clockwatching by about track six, just biding my time till the remaining highlights arrive. In the end, even though Death Metal has more variety when it comes to speed and style than the classic Dismember albums, it’s boring. As strange as it may sound, I’ve found this album to be both relieving and disappointing in equal amounts. It’s a lot better than I expected given the direction I thought the band would take, while still not coming close to the high standard set by Like an Ever Flowing Stream and Indecent and Obscene.