Dismember – The God that Never Was
Sounds like Dismember. Plain and simple. This band is the longstanding cornerstone and benchmark for Swedish death metal and to hear them in 2006 still putting out a full album worth of well sculpted material that’s just as true to their core as their debut album, is beyond an impressive feat. “The Gods that Never Was” was captured on CD by Sweden’s Dug Out studios (Meshuggah, Dark Funeral) and even though I really enjoy the full throttled attack and room ambience of the sound, the guitars seem a bit too roomy. Not enough high end bite (As found on Pieces or Like an Ever Flowing Stream for example) cuts through the mix, so the drums and vocals tend to bury the guitars. This is most noticable on the faster, note dominant riffs, but in turn, the mid paced powerchord stompers really possess a full bodied “WHUMP” when there’s crunching. I will say that as the years go by, Dismember does subtly continue to develop their sound, for each album seems to contain even more refined harmonies within the individual songs and there’s no denying David Blomqvist’s love for melodic and memorable solo work. Tracks like “Autopsy” really showcase Dismember at their most vicious and melodic where Blomqvist digs in with several very heartfelt solos that pile on the class and help elevate the detuned clamor of old style death metal out of the past and into the fiery flames of the future. Death metal doesn’t have to go 100 mph all the time –a crutch often embraced by the new school – for Dismember continue to produce impressively written albums without losing the listener with out of key riff ideas hurled into redundancy by an over the top sense of brutality. There is a fine line between blind brutality and poignant songwriting and Dismember have somehow gotten it right almost every time (I did dislike the overly simplistic Massive Killing Capacity) for 17 years now. Bravo! I liked the last album, like “The God that Never Was” and if Dismember stays on course, I’ll definitely like the next album as well. – Marty
CANDLELIGHT RECORDS
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