Dismember - Dismember (Regain Records/2008)
It's amazing that this band is still putting out awesome material! Originally formed in Sweden (Stockholm) in 1988, Dismember is back once again with their kick ass self-titled release. However, I think "Like An Ever Flowing Stream" is still my favorite album out of their entire discography. Over the span of 21 years, they've gone through numerous lineup changes.
Their genre remains to be die hard death metal. On this latest release, they still have melodic parts to some songs. Their lineup now consists of Matti Karki on vocals, David Blomqvist on guitars, Martin Persson also on guitars, Tobias Christiansson on bass and Thomas Daun on drums.
The music in it's entirety features fast, tremolo picked guitars and melodies. There are no blast beats however. The lead guitars are good but overall short. Again, the time signatures range from being a groove style of death metal which they are notorious for playing to guitar that reflects melodic death metal. The vocals have no variety at all. It's just deep throat on this entire release.
In terms of the sound (production), it's decent. The entire release seems to have an echo vibe to it. You can still hear all of the guitars, vocals and drums pretty well. So I conclude that the production overall is good. The playing is also great and Dismember still to me are a very talented death metal band. I really like the guitars. The vocals could've had more variety but I still think Matti does a good job. Drum-wise, Thomas is right on cue with the guitars. All of the efforts from each band member displays a lot of energy!
The lyrical topics on the album deal with death, war, hatred and gore (http://www.metal-archives.com/band.php?id=122). They sure as hell blend good with the music. There are no cover songs. This whole release features all originals. I can't say that I am a fan of the topics but what the heck, this is death metal!
It took me some time to show a liking to this release. But after several spins, I gradually became more interested in it. At first, it seemed to me to be pretty repetitive. But after a while, I grew a liking towards it. Definitely an album worth purchasing if you're a death metal fan!
Check out the songs "Europa Burns", "The Hills Have Eyes", "Legion" and "Tide Of Blood" to judge for yourself the quality of this album!
Rating: 8/10.