Dismember (Candlelight)
By Brian Anderson
Friday. May 09, 6:21 PM
An album so good, it needs no title!

Other than slowing down a bit on '95's Massive Killing Capacity, you can pretty much always expect Dismember to release straight forward Swedish death metal. While many of their counterparts abandoned the style that made them famous, Dismember have never strayed from their roots. So when I heard that drummer, producer, songwriter, and original member Fred Estby left the band a year ago, I thought for sure that would be the end of these warriors. Having been a huge fan since their debut Like an Ever Flowing Stream – and having heard the decent but not great last few records – I was very skeptical of what Dismember would put out post-Estby. Surprisingly, I was completely blown away! Not only did Dismember stick to their sound, they've made it their strongest and most brutal in years.

Opener “Death Conquers All” is reminiscent of the force of the 1992 EP Pieces. Other than an unintentional Iron Maiden-like riff on “Under a Bloodred Sky,” this album is Dismember through and through. Matti Kärki’s vocals sound as if he was actually getting tortured while recording. With the departure of Estby, maybe long time guitarist David Blomqvist and relatively newbie Martin Persson were able to use a backlog of riffs that were untouched during Estby’s reign as the main songwriter? That is only speculation, but there is no speculation that this album rules! It is so brutally good that it doesn’t need a title, even though there were at least a 100 suggestions.
www.dismember.se
www.regainrecords.com

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Brian Anderson

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