Dissimulate

Don't tell me you don't remember MTV Scarred? That show where skateboarders would twist their appendages in all sorts of new and exciting directions, punctuated in equal measure by highly distorted "metal-tronica" and that douchey guy from Papa Roach? It was basically the caucasian equivalent of Pimp My Ride, when MTV cared enough about music to relegate it to closeups of shiny Lexani rims, or closeups of a sequacious teenager's blood-soaked face. Dissimulate would be perfect for that second one.

Now I, in my infinite mental darkness, was under the impression that Sarcófago's Hate was as crazy as a drum machine could get. Along comes The Berzerker to make that album sound humanly possible by comparison. Drum rolls and snare rushes are so ludicrously executed, I'm tempted to compare the percussive carnage to Aaron Funk, better known as Venetian Snares. Despite representing entirely separate genres, the two acts share a lot in common. Namely the use of sampling, subtle time signature changes (in the same way an M3 Satan Tank is subtle), and the permeant atmosphere of frenzied paranoia and inarticulate rage. The Berzerker very much lives up to its name in their most famous and critically acclaimed album, but let tell you, it's not for everyone.

Hell, it's only occasionally for me. In the moments where I throw caution and thoughts of tinnitus to the wind, I'll blast this album and enjoy literally every minute of it. I'll get goosebumps from the "They rot together with absolute biological equality" line before an explosion of distorted kick drums, high voltage riffs, and a death growl all coalesce into the aural equivalent of Truckasaurus. Other times, when I find myself with a hankering for more introspective and melody-driven death metal, I can hardly look this album in the eyes. I wouldn't want to marry Dissimulate, put it that way. Every component may be competent, but the hyper-aggressive mechanical motif can get real stale, real fast.

And so, the garrish electronic instrumentation proves to be more of a trammel than a lubricant for the theoretical "limits of brutality" like they were originally intended as. Why hello again, Hate. The Sarcófago album was written with the same premise, and while I believe both albums are solid, they end up sounding like curious relics of the past to be enjoyed only in specific circumstances, rather than living on as an eternal icon of evil. Like The Laws of Scourge. A unique cover of 'Coporal Jigsore Quandry' offers insight on what The Berzerker would sound like with plausible - though still overtly mechanized - drums, but besides this, Dissimulate is a constant full-bore assault that sounds like a product of bygone experimentation. For what it's worth, they stuck with this formula and released several strong albums after this one, which is more than you can say for most gimmicks.

I’ve always had an affinity for Industrial music. I’ve found that the genre’s bleak, nihilistic intensity has created plenty of classics in its own right (:Wumpscut: anyone?), yet the genuine merge of industrial and metal music tickles my fancy even more. Nailbomb, Godflesh, Meathook Seed, Red Harvest, And Christ Wept, Christdriver, classic Ministry: these are all results of the fusion that prove it takes subtlety, an understanding of atmosphere and actual musical ability to create it properly. The Berzerker is a band that many correctly identify as one of the best fusions of Industrial and extreme metal yet conceived. However, unlike, say, Red Harvest or And Christ Wept, The Berzerker’s work focused less on building an atmosphere unforgiving enough to choke on and more on absolute precision, speed and breakneck intensity.

Describing their discography and indeed this album as ‘cybergrind’ would not be inaccurate. Absent of any electronic influence, The Berzerker’s music is at heart voracious deathgrind. The paradox of ‘Dissimulate’ is that while the album is unbelievably technical (Gary Thomas, you magnificent bastard, I read your BOOK!), the atmosphere of other classic industrial/metal fusions isn’t present. It simply wouldn’t be possible given the sheer velocity of The Berzerker’s compositions and yet I consider atmosphere an essential characteristic of a classic industrial metal band. Consider for a moment Nailbomb’s ‘Point Blank’. Even when taking into account the harshness of, say, ‘Vai Toma No Cù’, there’s a palpable feeling of uprising and rebellion. There is no such feeling on ‘Dissimulate’.

That isn’t to say that this is a poor album. Far from it. In fact, I commend The Berzerker for taking the idea of industrial meets metal music in a direction that to this day no one has matched. The instrumental work on display here is downright unbelievable. Luke Kenny and Sam Bean’s shrieks and growls are punishing and the structural work put into each song from the samples to the dual drum machine assault (from both a ‘human’ and machine) demonstrates why no one has come close to replicating this kind of industrial combination. That being said, this release isn’t without its problems. The lack of a commonly understood industrial metal atmosphere is a concern lingering above the head of this release for sure, but I’ve also noticed a tendency for certain songs to stick with a less than satisfactory idea for a bit too long (the guitar riff from 0:22 – 0:42 of ‘Last Mistake’) and other songs not lasting long enough ('No One Wins', the best track on this album, in my opinion).

In conclusion, I would definitely recommend ‘Dissimulate’ as The Berzerker’s quintessential album, an imperfect testament to the power of definitively combining two things most people would completely screw up. This album doesn’t relent, but it lacks the sensation of other industrial metal. The instrumental prowess is impeccable (especially the drumming), yet some of the less interesting sections continue for much longer than they should while the best song on the album is too short. The skill required to compose such an album practically oozes off of the music and yet The Berzerker are the only conceivable band that could make ideas of this nature work. I recommend this album as a piece of metal history that will never be seen again. Weird, wild stuff.

There's such a fundamental leap in quality between The Berzerker's first and second albums that you'd almost think it's an entirely different band. It's mostly a matter of consistency; where the band seems to have just thrown together every idea they had on the first album, resulting in a fairly incoherent and random release, 'Dissimulate' is infinitely more measured and logically sequenced, and on the whole possibly the band's best album. It comes right in the sweet spot where inspiration is still flowing freely but the overall presentation of ideas hasn't been overly tamed, making this ferocious but intelligent and compelling from first track to last.

Gone are the completely unnecessary forays into gabba and speedcore, and so now those influences are almost exclusively found in The Berzerker's signature triggered drums, this time (and so far, the only time) provided by an actual human. To be honest, the presence of a human drummer doesn't change the feel of the music greatly; the timing is so precise and the rhythms are so minimal that it's a pretty pointless distinction (probably the reason a drum machine has been again used on every subsequent album). It's actually rather fortunate that the drummer doesn't diverge from the drum machine formula greatly, as many drum machine-oriented bands tend to suffer at the hands of a drummer who adds too much presence to the music (live Mortician, I'm looking at you). The drums are heavily triggered, and so the distorted 808s and strange, tinny snare sound are intact. They provide the right amount of noise and velocity and do no more, which in this case is a blessing.

If you take the best tracks off The Berzerker's first album such as 'Reality', 'Forever', or 'Cannibal Rights' and create an album full of songs of equal caliber, you essentially have 'Dissimulate'. It's a much more predictable and 'metal' release, which may be bad to the more experimentally inclined, but the fact is that The Berzerker's experiments are rarely even listenable, much less good. So with that in mind, you can see why The Berzerker falling back on their unique sound and pumping out a steady succession of industrial death/grind tracks is so desirable: they've always been strong in their brand of music, and the more they stick to the established formula, the better off they are.

The production is a vast improvement over the first release; it's fuller and broader, drawing a lot of negative attention to the rather constrained musical space of the self-titled release. It's a necessary improvement to give these violent songs their full weight. There are some quirks to it; the guitar tone seems a little neutered at times and not as extreme as it would get on albums like 'Animosity', but this is only a critique that rises after many listens.

The songs are simple and very fast; perhaps not quite as fast as some people say, but still possessing an alacrity that's worthy of mention. It's not quite as violent as 'Animosity' or as complex as 'World Of Lies' or as instantly memorable as the best tracks off the first album, but what they lack in uniqueness they more than make up for in rigid consistency, with little to no variation in quality between tracks. This wouldn't be very notable if the bar weren't set and kept so high throughout the album; opener 'Disregard' genuinely seizes the listener and refuses to let go. This is the exact opposite of the album you can set in the background and ignore; it demands the listener's attention from the first minute to the closing Carcass cover.

If one was to want to hear The Berzerker's quintessential album, I'd point this one out. It embodies all the elements that have kept the band a unique force in the metal scene for several years now: brutality, a carefully tuned aesthetic, and a true aural intensity rarely matched elsewhere. If you have to get only one album from the Australians, this is it.

Oh my fucking God (if I only cared for Him)!!! This is among the most awesome fucking things I've ever heard! In fact, the last time I heard something this cool was when I first heard Cradle of Filth, my favorite band of all time (sorry!). So I really liked this one. I like industrial, and I like death metal/ grind, so when you combine the two, it makes one fucking Hell of an album. The Berzerker kicks cybernetic ass, and it deserves its name wholly.

The style is definitely very unique, blending essentially blast-fest death metal/ grindcore with this thing which they call "gabba" techno. I think this mostly is evident in the sound of the drums, which sound very electronic (something that might put off fans of regular DM). Most of the album is basically brutal death metal, but in the latter half the techno element is more apparent, mostly in the drum structure (i.e. less blast beats). Some of the songs are downright "danceable," if you can imagine that from an extreme metal band. Although I would have a hard time describing the grindcore elements, I personally believe the Berzerker is more grind than death, but very industrial at the same time.

When I listened to this album, I was amazed at the ferocity and velocity with which the Vocalist delivers his vocals. He is very, very good at what he does, rapidly alternating between deep and high growls. Since the booklet didn't come with lyrics, I don't have a fucking clue what he's saying, but just the delivery is fantastic. Also, most of the songs feature samples of very morbid dialogue, which is great for the violent nature and atmosphere displayed in the music. Overall, 10/10--nothing wrong here.

The guitarwork is very cool on Dissimulate. It is very thrashy, at least in my opinion and is quite melodic in some places, in a way that I would not typically expect of death metal. This may be the grind part of the Berzerker. However, the guitars were often a little on the inaudible side, due to the intensity of the gabba style bass drums; similarly, I could not here one note of bass guitar throughout the entire album. Oh well. Overall, 8/10.

I hear there was this rumor circulating that the Drummer in the Berzerker was the fastest around. I saw immediatey that this was certainly not true, but he is pretty fucking fast. Lots of blast beats here, especially on the first six songs. As said before, the number of "danceable" beats increase after this point, but it's still all completely solid, solid like a computer chip or something like that. I can't see though, why they would have a live drummer on the album if they were going to make the percussion sound that electronic. I would just use a drum machine or other mechanical apparatus. Overall, 9/10--the gabba sound can get annoying after a while.

The Berzerker is undeniably awesome, at least for weird people like me. When I bought this CD, I was on a search for DM albums laden with blast beats, and this one sure as fuck did not disappoint. The drum sound may take a few minutes to get used to (only a few) but if you like blast beats, you'll be in blast beat heaven like I am. I highly reccomend the Berzerker to anyone who is a fan of the styles that this band belongs to, or anyone who wants something very unique to add to their collection. The Berzerker: the best thing to come out of Australia since Mad Max!

The album starts off with "Disregard." You know it's going to be fucking br00tal with the opening booms eminating from the guitar. And then, a pretty awesome riff kicks in, at which point, you're like, "Sweet." But then, the drums come in, and drown everything else out. The only time you can actually hear ANY riffmongery at all is when the drums shut the fuck up. It's a damned fast song. If Slayer had done it, it would have been around 5 minutes, but because it was The Berzerker, it is one minute and twenty. That's how fast this is.

And that is pretty much all there is to the album. The drums have an annoying tone to them, and you can't tell when one song ends and another one finishes if the stupid gabba bits don't appear. The vocals are average, nothing to score a robo-chubby over, let alone a regular chubby. There are some pretty fucking cool riffs, sometimes. When there are no drums. But for a lot of it, you can only hear drums and vocals that are too quiet, underneath the drums. It sort of sounds whispered, in a bad way.

I'm surprise that I don't see townies listening to this. It's very a bass heavy album, mostly because it's nearly all blasturbation, and they tend to like music that rumbles through the groud. That's what this album does. I was sitting with my foot on the sub woofer, and I had to take it off, because it started to ache.

And as an added bonus, they butcher a Carcass song at the end. Yay.

The album's not bad, but it's not good - just massively flawed.

...sound like he was blasting what can only be described as a cross between the dustbins of St. Angry and bizarre techno 'thuds'. Sure it's very fast but the sound goes from muffled to tinny in a split second. Even Aborym's drumming machine sounds better than this by a mile.

The guitars has a chugga-chugga sound to the riffs (if you get the chance to hear them under the damned techno-dustbins being brutally hammered by the brutal drummer. Blastubation at its most self-parodying/brutal/worthless (Trym, you're excused for now).

The vocalist of the band can go from a deep growl to vomiting, though they overlap each other throughout the album. Either that or they have another vocalist since they're only known by the instrument each member plays.

The first six songs are the best material the band has written as a band but after that; it goes downhill as we see the band regress to it's industrial based techno beginnings (good industrial is cold and dark but techno is a morons playpen and they don't mix well).

Admittingly: I liked the brutal death metal elements of the album itself but that is for the first six songs. The other six just sound like a watered down industrial/deathgrind techno hybrid with a firework shoved up it's arse.

The reason I said the other six is because track 13 is a minutes silence before we go into the bonus song. "Corporal Jigsore Quandary" which is a cover of the excellent Carcass song and we get the guitar in the mix...hang on a minute, what's this? It sounds like they got the Carcass original and replaced Ken Owen and his drumset with the prat and his mutant dustbins, kept the guitar parts, replaced Jeff Walker's vocals with the Berzerkers own vocalist and even kept the original spoken part! I'm surprised Bill Steer hasn't bombed them with explosive carrots for this near carbon copy cover.

Anyhow, for your money (if you chose to buy it), you'll get six good songs, six bland one, a track of complete silence and a virtual carbon copy of a Carcass song (I know that covers are supposed to copy another bands song but not to the extend of almost sounding the same) with a very fast drummer beat some dustbins from the planet Mars or planet Ibiza. You're better off buying Necroticism.

Well. To say that this album is extreme is putting it one way.

Pretty much in the same way that people either "got" Godflesh (ie enjoyed) or just hated them, from experience I can probably say that that's the overall reaction to The Berzerker. Whether it's the masks they wear, which they say is because "the human form conjures complacency" or the insanely fast gabba drumbeats used to explosive point more on this album than at all on the debut.

This follow-up album to the debut album - recorded solely by The Berzerker (the man himself who founded the project) - is certainly a progression from that album. Where the first album was certainly raw and abrasive, mainly due to as much financial restraints as malicious intent, this release is a more calculated yet viscious feral attack. Songs like No-One Wins, Compromise and The Principles And Practices Of Embalming all buzz by with not just intensity but INTENT. Whilst it's true that some songs are either over too quick, or overlong, it's also true to say that this isn't an album you can get away with thinking you can just dip in and out of. The Berzerker hate humanity and don't give a fuck who knows about it.

Obviously, from the Carcass-inspired riffage, there's the adequate honourary cover of Carcass' 'Corporeal Jigsore Quandory' (renamed to 'Jigsaw' in this case), which whilst far from a necassarily BAD cover, just doesn't add anything really amazing to the original - except possibly the gabba drums.

In conclusion, where the debut was raw, unbridled (occasionally a little TOO raw), this is the slightly more polished gabba-fan older more extreme brother. Almost as though The Berzerker had actually been able to do everything he wanted to do with it, instead of restricting it to what he could afford to do - with the debut.