Reborn in Blasphemy

"Reborn in Blasphemy" is the beginning of Dismember as we know them. Prior to this, the band was almost indistinguishable from Carnage. The previous Dismember demo ("Last Blasphemies") only contained songs that would later appear on the "Dark Recollections" LP. The exact chronology of early Dismember and Carnage is opaque. My understanding is that Carnage split once Michal Amott moved to England to join Carcass, soon after the album was recorded. The remaining members of Carnage then focused on Dismember. Nicke Andersson became an unofficial fourth member, replacing Amott on lead guitar. The word reborn in the title of this demo seems to refer to Dismember itself, i.e., reborn from the ashes of Carnage.

This demo is a big improvement on "Last Blasphemies", and also shows a subtle evolution from “Dark Recollections”. The music here is faster, more supple and more intricate. The sound is similar to the debut Dismember album ("Like an Everflowing Stream") that appeared the following year. Matti Kärki makes his first vocal performance with Dismember here (joining from Carnage). He has a deeper and more strained vocal style to his predecessor Robert Sennebäck (who would soon rejoin Dismember as a second guitarist). Kärki doesn't have the range and charisma of L.G. Petrov, or the guttural power of Jörgen Sandström, but he wins for sheer ferocity. I love the way he doesn’t seem to care where the riffs land. He just snarls and spits, and misses the exact timing on almost every utterance. This is a good thing; there is nothing as boring as death metal growls delivered with metronome timing.

All three songs on this demo ("Dismembered", "Sickening Art", "Defective Decay") will be familiar to fans of the band. These songs all appear on “Like an Everflowing Stream” (though the latter song was a CD-only bonus track). These demo versions are better than the album versions in every respect. The tempo is a little slower and this provides more heaviness. The guitar is thicker and denser, similar to the tone on “Dark Recollections”. The vocals are deeper and gruffer, with more growling and less shouting. “Sickening Art” is my favourite of the three songs. It is the tightest and best constructed. This version, with the creepy mid-section, is old school Swedish death metal at its finest. However, it is "Defective Decay" that is the biggest surprise. This demo version demolishes the album version, since it has proper vocals (rather than the stupid vocal effect that was used on the album).

This demo is a classic. It is one of the quintessential death metal demos that propelled the genre forward in the early nineties. There are many parallels with Entombed’s "But Life Goes On" demo. Both are appetisers for classic debut albums. Both score points over their album counterparts by being heavier and gloomier. However, both lack the apex songs that put those debut albums into the stratosphere (i.e., “Left Hand Path”, “Override of the Overture”). I will stop short of calling this demo better than “Like an Everflowing Stream” (since it only contains three songs), but I can only imagine how good the album would have been with this demo production. "Reborn in Blasphemy" might be the best place to start with Dismember, particularly if you like death metal to be rotten to the core.

What a demo! If you've read my other reviews, you'll know that their last tape was already a major improvement over the first, but this one is simply jaw-dropping. No more Carnage songs here. "Reborn in Blasphemy" is indeed the reborn face of Dismember and the beginnings of the band that we all know today. This is where Matti Kärki enters the picture, and I'm convinced that anything he fucking touches turns to gold. He's done it for Carnage, Carbonized and General Surgery; and beginning with this release he would do the same for Dismember, taking them to the highest tier of death metal.

Most of the music from this tape was later re-recorded for the "Like an Ever Flowing Stream" LP. You'd think that these earlier versions of the songs would pale in comparison, but that's definitely not the case here. The songs are played with just as much heart and conviction as on the album, and in some cases the demo versions actually sound better! One element that's definitely better on this demo is the production - it's simply perfect. As much as I love Dismember's debut record, I always felt that its production was somewhat lacking in heaviness in terms of the drums and guitars (especially after hearing the intensity of "Dark Recollections"). The rhythm guitars are much more pronounced here when compared with the album, while the double bass drum is stronger and sounds excellent. Matti's vocals sound amazing as well. His style is very similar to what's on the LP, but he frequently likes to take his voice into a deeper range as he did with Carnage and Carbonized. This demo provides a good balance of both of these singing styles.

"Reborn in Blasphemy" opens with one of the best and most beatiful instrumental intros I've ever heard. The guitar leads are monumental and paint majestic landscapes in your mind as you listen to them. The demo version is played a tad slower than its album counterpart, but the rhythm guitars are much higher in the mix which gives a new dimension to this classic composition. The stream of captivating melodies eventually leads up to "Dismembered". The opening of this song throws you back ten feet into the air with its intense blastbeats and brutality. It continues on at a steady fast pace with some excellent double bass kicking midway through the track. There's a crazy, psychedelic scream soon afterwards that sounds really fucked up! I later learned that this part was performed by a girl called Marika. That's a good thing, because I was starting to get concerned that Matti lost his balls there for a second.

Next up is "Sickening Art". This song also appeared on the great "Projections of a Stained Mind" compilation CD, and was of course ultimately re-recorded on "Like an Ever Flowing Stream". I'm not gonna lie to you here. The demo version of this track completely destroys the one on the album. The solos (courtesy of Nicke from Entombed!) are played with so much more spirit and emotion, and the heavy tone of the rhythm guitars is face-melting. This is probably my favorite Dismember song, now that I think about it. It's just so damn catchy and perfect. All death metal should sound like this.

The last song is a re-recorded version of "Defective Decay" from Dismember's debut demo. It opens with some grindcore riffs along with a brief blasting section, before slowing tempo later on. There's a very bizarre guitar solo towards the end that will give you goosebumps. Overall, this version is much tighter musically than its predecessor, but doesn't impact the listener as much as the previous two songs did.

This is one of the best demo tapes to ever grace the death metal genre. If you've never heard it, put it on the list of things to do before you die.

On their third and final demo, Dismember show that they have improved quite a bit since recording their first two demos. This release shows a great improvement in the bands technicality and creativity. This was also their first release to feature Matti on vocals. This release also shows the band starting to include subtle melodies in their music.

The demo begins with a melodic guitar intro that is partnered with simple power chords. After an interesting solo, the band begin their onslaught with "Dismembered". An array of heavy, sometimes sludgey sounding riffs, pounding drums with plenty of blast beats, and growled vocals beat the listener into submission. Matti's tortured growl is a great assett to Dismember, as his vocals are brutal, but not monotonous, and fit better with the band's sound than their previous vocalists. This song also features some some awesome riffage that show Dismember are trying to expand on their sound. This song also has some wierd high pitched chanting, which add's to the song's creepiness.

"Sickening Art" begins with a more mid-tempoed sludgey styled riff. The song carries on in this fashion for a while before kicking up the speed. This song actually switches tempos many times giving the music an added level of depth. More awesome solos are to be found as well, and the slamming outro is possibly the most brutal moment of the demo.

The demo ends with a new version of the song "Defective Decay" from their first demo. The sound quality and vocals are much better on this version in my opinion(The vocals on the original were more like a black metal scream). The guitar sound is greatly improved as well. Also the new version features some cool guitar harmonies and solos.

Overall, this is a great slab of early death metal. Any fan of the band who is interested in their roots should check this out.