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Fast, violent, but above all raw. These are the three adjectives fitting to describe this album, the debut in 1991 of Dismember. The Swedish band was born under the protective wing of Nicke Anderssen, who recorded all guitar solo parts on the album. This fact should give an idea of the technical limitation that the five guys had at the time: the album is poorly played and even worse recorded, but made with a lot of attitude and inspiration. Inspiration that obviously comes from the album "Left Hand Path" by Entombed, but revisited in a faster and rougher key; the chainsaw riffs are extremely fast and chase each other throughout the album, while the bass emits a slurred sound that serves as a backdrop, and basically, you can only hear the snare drum (ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta-ta).
The tempo changes are few but placed at the right moments (this is not a cerebral band, neither by nature, technique, nor attitude). The growl singing is not among my favorites, too little refined, but it fits wonderfully in the album. The lyrics, trivial and childishly splatter enough so as not to have to say, "I’m listening to something serious and demanding, I must concentrate," make you smile. The best songs: the initial "Override Of The Overture", very fast with an unmistakable riff. Long and varied enough to be entertaining. Remarkable "And So Is Lie", good songwriting, very engaging. The best one perhaps is "Dismembered", which begins with a classic metal solo of a minute and a half, very touching, but suddenly a voice whispers ". . . dismembered" and panic is unleashed. . . ! Semi/grind outburst with wild screams launches into the very fast and tense song. Applause! Also excellent "Sickening Art" and "Skin Her Alive", they keep the album at high levels. The concluding "In Death's Sleep" focuses more on atmosphere, with almost church-like choirs and sentimental solos (not pilu-pilu-pilu). Obviously, after two minutes of atmosphere, the guys are thoroughly bored and kickstart the chainsaws.
Worth mentioning: four tasty bonus tracks, particularly "Defective Decay" where a more "brutal" growl is experimented with. But above all, the hilarious photos (though maybe they didn’t think they were funny) in which the five are immortalized shirtless and covered in (?) blood. There is a certain embarrassment (for them) in looking at that photo, but that's what death metal is like, beware of taking yourself too seriously! In short: an album for those who want to listen to simple, noisy, fast, violent, slurred death metal, without overthinking, with a buzzing sound (basically not compressed like the stuff coming from Morrisound). Fundamental, it’s history.
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