Indecent and Obscene

Dismember’s sophomore record marks a significant change in the band’s approach. While their beloved debut "Like an Everflowing Stream" had a more mysterious and paranormal feeling, this one is a plain and relentless bloodbath (the latter is ironic considering the guitar tone here is probably what inspired one of my favorite Swedish death metal releases – Bloodbath’s "Resurrection Through Carnage"). The guitar sound is even more vicious than before, the gut-wrenching riffs are excellent in their unbridled rage, and the overall feeling of overwhelming rampage is something not many bands of the time can match.

Starting off with a crushing riff of the song with a quite creative name (well, I mean, it was creative for the time when the album was released) "Fleshless" and Matti’s wicked scream, "Indecent and Obscene" instantly blasts you with the might of its thick yet still raw guitars, which is its main strength. Even though they are more likely to draw your attention than anything else, the drums are also very good, and so are the vocals, which, in my opinion, are still the weakest element of Dismember’s music (despite fitting the overall sound, they don’t seem very original to me) but have improved since "Like an Everflowing Stream" and even offer some cool screams like the one at 4:29 of "Reborn in Blasphemy" (but also the hilarious "biiiiiitch" on "Eviscerated (Bitch)"). While I would’ve liked this album even if all songs were written in the style of "Fleshless" and "Case # Obscene", I appreciate the band’s attempts to diversify its melodies, since it makes "Indecent and Obscene" even more remarkable. On the second track, "Skinfather", for instance, the riff following the sample and Matti’s brutal and at the same time comic "why don’t you just kill yourself?" in the middle is surprising and absolutely mind-blowing (I would even say it sounds more like a heavy than a death metal type of riff to me). The acoustic passage around the middle of "Reborn in Blasphemy" being abruptly dismembered (I’m a comedy king, I know) by the rest of the instruments kicking in and followed by an excellent engrossing melody, the comic piano in the end of "Eviscerated (Bitch)" and the apocalyptic melodeath "Dreaming in Red" (by the way, is it just me or does the first half of the intro riff of this song sound way too similar to Arch Enemy’s "The Eagle Flies Alone"?) are all good examples of Dismember’s creativity on this work.

The only element of the album that is not as enjoyable to me is its lyrics which are mostly uniform and uninteresting. The only song that stands out in that sense is "Case # Obscene", the lines "The gate, your portal to life, falters and grows weak. Your sense of reality somewhat distorted" and "I weep for your souls until they're dust and memories, forgotten eternally" are quite epic. But, considering the lyrics aren’t particularly bad, either, the standard i-will-kill-you-all death metal rage, I won’t be very critical of them.

So, Dismember’s second release is a brilliant death metal record – furious, powerful and definitely indecent and obscene. Probably my favorite Swedish death metal record of the 90s after "The Fourth Dimension" and "Burning Bridges".

Some say death metal peaked in 1993, but that was from a popularity standpoint, the snippet of time that spawned slightly commercialized best-sellers like Covenant. Still excellent of course, but not quite as lethally forward-thinking as 1989-91, (old school) death metal's objective creative peak. What you can gather from this is that 1993 was before most of the big pioneers, from each regional scene, had really ditched their original, extreme sound, but the '90/'91 debut album alumni like these were often hit hard by the sophomore slump phenomenon. A couple of the Metal Archives regulars pumping out reviews for OSDM demos in the past several years (you know who you are!) put it into words best - essentially, when you have a raw, truly gnarly and rancid genre like death metal, it's totally plausible to put out your best material on even a rehearsal demo. Therefore, by time you hit the studio, you've already reached a level of, I guess, maturity? Something that was (initially) unlikely for a genre like this, and something that is tackled in the Choosing Death book I've recently been perusing.

Regarding the European death metal scene, however, and particularly Scandinavia, I see even the most diehard OSDM dudes going straight for the debuts. This is in contrast to how they usually approach the American pioneers, often being more keen on bringing up pre-Altars and pre-SBG material right off the bat. Now, demos from nearly every scene in extreme music are very singificant and shouldn't be overlooked, but I think circumventing the demos in favor of the debut full-lengths is particularly hit-or-miss with Scandinavian death metal. I don't really have an all-encompassing theory as to why, rather just anecdotal evidence. Because, in my opinion: the Nihilist demos are at least up there with Left Hand Path, lesser-known Swedes like Excruciate and Crematory made some truly awesome works before releasing an album/EP, and across the border, Finnish death metal is just twisted all around and hardly misses a chance to fuck your world up on any release. Yet, on the flip side, I think Into the Grave is an ultimate, culminating statement that expands upon the already rotten Grave demos, Raped in Their Own Blood was Vomitory's best work up to that long-awaited moment in 1996, and to the point of this review, Dismember's Like an Everflowing Stream debut from 1991 is genuinely the best place to start with them.

Yep, LAES is just too damn good, too damn classy, not to fall in love with immediately. Classic mosh-inducing opener, dangerous and enraged scorchers, a touch of melody, dense sounding but still accessible, just beautiful violence. So, already, Dismember had thoroughly proved themselves by time they put out their debut and reached that stage of "maturity." That's no small feat in and of itself, but the two follow-up efforts to their debut are even more essential for me. They are nowhere near as immediate with the bangers they offer, and are therefore more "growers." The 1992 EP is very well respected despite its briefness, but Indecent & Obscene, the sophomore album, is a little more overlooked. Some call it a sophomore slump, and admittedly, neither the songwriting nor the production goes for the throat quite as much, but it is a more paced album and depending on how much you value a highly consistent, no-filler album experience, it might just be your favorite Dismember release too.

I'll contradict myself here because objectively speaking, not "going for the throat" is a completely false statement once you listen to the first 7 seconds of Indecent & Obscene. "Fleshless", "Skinfather", "Sorrowfilled", each of these first few songs are all mean and bitter as hell despite having some of that melody, and a lot of that catchiness, that Dismember largely pioneered in death metal. Skinfather is a Dismember standard that breaks midway through for Matti to yell a particularly edgy statement, and this moment is an examplary case of calculatedly applying the brakes in a death metal song without losing any intensity - they've run you over at full speed, now they brake suddenly to send you flying forward, only to roll over you again and leave you a broken heap. The fourth track is maybe slightly less of a banger, but it's still such a likeable song (with a more reasonable message about censorship than you'd expect from... Dismember) that by time the unrelenting intro of one of my most-played Dismember cuts, "Souldevourer", gives way to a melodic break preceding the verse, you can confidently say this was a flawless A-side.

The aforementioned melodic break in Souldevourer is one of the best examples of what I mean when I say this album is fairly paced despite its consistent intesnity. "9th Circle" is also a brilliant example of that. Cool song all throughout, but the "MOTHERFUCKER! Who told you hell was warm?!" at the end is just too, too fucking badass. Bravo, only Matti and maybe the guy from Entrails can deliver lines like that - it is so distinctly Swedish. It also hints at Dismember's formula that would become evident on their last couple albums, which are also excellent for the most part. I guess "pacing" might also be used to describe the mid-paced, quasi-melodeath of the closer "Dreaming in Red", which is also a Dismember standard. I don't absolutely love this song like I do many of the other ones I've talked about in depth, but there's really no other way to conclude a beast of an album like this, so it absolutely does not detract from the power of this 1993 masterwork.

Finally, the musicianship of the entire band here is just so on point and jumps out to me like nothing else, even more so than technically marvelous death metal albums from this era. It's mostly just solid if unremarkable tremolo riff barrages, but the tight performances sell it, and Fred Estby is a legendary, overpowering drummer. Matti, meanwhile is not a fully deep death growler. There's hoarse yells in there, but it's the right kind that doesn't sound at all half-assed in death metal. The vocals carry emotional weight, and the annunciation is both precise and stylish.

Indecent & Obscene is perhaps not Swedish death metal's ultimate statement from a purely canonical standpoint, but I can hardly think of a more exhilirating listen in the 35-minute range. I was lucky enough to score some original Nuclear Blast copies of this, albeit for a price, in these last couple years. I'd like to see another quality reissue of this sophomore Dismember effort sooner rather than later - this is too good not to be a readily available album for all death metal maniacs.

Among the heavy hitters of the early Swedish death metal scene that didn't full go down either the melodic road or the death n' roll path, Dismember has tended to exude an ironically moderated tone, at least as far as the mixture of traditional technique to the soon to develop strains to come out of the work of Entombed on the one end, and that of the Gothenburg 3 on the other. Picking apart any album that this band has put out will naturally result in finding elements of these soon-to-develop subsets, in much the same fashion that one might glean elements of them from the early 90s output of Death and Obituary. In contrast to Dismember's astounding powerhouse of a debut Like An Ever Flowing Stream, their sophomore LP Indecent And Obscene leans away from occult symbolism and toward a more gore-infused imagery that falls a tad short of the cartoonish character of Cannibal Corpse, but the musical trappings are largely the same.

This is an album that lives and dies by intensity, stopping for breaks in a manner more befitting an extreme thrash metal band out of either Brazil or Germany several years prior than through groovy breakdowns or entire songs built out of mid-tempo coasting. Kicking off the list are 2 certifiable speed monsters in "Fleshless" and "Skinfather", playing up a heavy amount of Slayer and early Florida influences, with a throaty growl out of vocalist Matti Kärki that is a bit difficult to differentiate from that of Chuck Schuldiner save maybe a slight Swedish tinge to some of the words being barked out. The guitar and drum heavy production definitely reminds heavily of Leprosy, though the lead guitar tracking takes on a more processed feel comparable to Death's middle era work from 1991-93, not to mention that the few cases where things do slow up a bit like on "Sorrowfilled" and the beginning part of "Case # Obscene" the sound trails pretty close to the progressive character with a hint of hard rock buried in the mix of several select songs off Individual Thought Patterns, though these songs also tend to pick up the tempo and end up in thrash territory.

For the most part, this album tends to be a slightly more conservative answer to what Death was moving towards at around the same time, though it does also manage to incorporate a few elements of the developing character of what was hitting Sweden at the time as well. By this point this band's sound was not actively exhibiting isolated fits of the Gothenburg melodic tinge to any great degree, at least not much more than what was incidentally occurring in Florida at around the same time. However, there are a few key moments where the lead guitar work and a few of the riffs veer off into territory comparable to where At The Gates was, namely during the middle part of "Souldevourer" (including the sweep happy and singing guitar solo with a fairly mellow tone prior to the more Kerry King oriented burst before the last verse), and also throughout much of the closing song "Dreaming In Red", which functions as more of a bridge ballad that exemplifies how Death would approach a ballad circa 1993, but also has some melodic content that is similar to what was hit upon in the mid 90s when the Gothenburg scene started to pick up steam.

Calling this a transitional album would probably be a stretch given that it's more of an old, thrashing affair than not, but it is a bit more of a multifaceted experience that a number of their later works, and also one that relies a bit more on structural twists than subtle atmospherics the way its predecessor did. The biggest complaint that one might throw at this is that the album art doesn't really paint an accurate picture of where the music is on here and might lead one to expect something of more of a goregrind variety. Granted, an old school death metal album with a lot of intricate parts doesn't necessarily need a grand scene of temples amid a burning landscape or an elaborate post-apocalyptic painting, and this is yet another amazing effort out of one of the more consistent of the elite purveyors of the early Swedish sound.

You have to admire Dismember, without doubt one of Sweden's finest exports. These guys were pedaling a voracious brand of face-ripping, limb-hacking death metal for years, and rarely lost steam over the course of Dismember's career. Whilst I find people often gave the edge to Entombed; I've always been firmly rooted at camp Dismember. The band's sound really strikes the right nerve for me, boasting tasteful melodic sensibilities, skin-flaying riffs, and beastly vocals. Of course Like An Ever Flowing Stream is regular cited by the death metal masses as Dismember's masterwork, although I have a certain soft spot for Indecent & Obscene.

Clocking just over 35 minutes, this album flashes by in a blaze of fury; complete with that Sunlight Studios, acidic guitar tone, Matti Kärki's furious vocal attack, and a sublime drum sound featuring one the gnarliest, most pummeling snare, and kick sound I've heard. It seriously punches right through the chest, making the album cover all the more fitting (likely the torso of a less than fortunate journalist who simply couldn't handle the DM pre-releases).

Indecent & Obscene is home to some of Dismember's finest riffs too, with each song sitting on at least 2-3 gut-busters, whether it's a rattling, tremolo picked flurry set to cauterize, or a rumbling groove guaranteed to shake the bowels. "Fleshless" kicks the festivities off in style, and is a personal favorite Dismember track, showcasing Fred Estby's furious, take-no-prisoners approach to the drum kit, some of the fills are really impressive; snapping at the ears like some deranged, chained beast. David Blomqvist also shows off some tasty lead guitar playing, very reminiscent of the haunting, reverb drenched performance Nicke Andersson delivered on the prior opus.

Indecent & Obscene packs an incredible amount of wallop, with the first three tracks being a tour-de-force in Swedish death metal - although the rest kills too. Special mention has to go to "Dreaming in Red", for it's excellent approach to melody in death metal, setting a bench mark for the more melodic bands to follow, although really still to this day standing proud as a song no-one has really managed to imitate. The whole album is bloody great, though. Definitely up there with my favorite death metal albums, and any fan of the genre would look quite the fool without this one. Highly recommended.

Originally appeared at The Metal Crypt although heavily edited to make more sense.

Following up Like An Ever Flowing Stream is one of the hardest tasks I can think of in music. Such an album is of an unparalleled status, so the safe route was to go completely vile. Dismember do that with all the pride one would expect in death metal. Massive Killing Capacity would take itself into melodic realms, but Indecent & Obscene opts to play dirty, to my ears going down as the heaviest Dismember album (next to Death Metal). Albums like the debut and The God That Never Was are dark epics, but Indecent & Obscene is a grimy, foul album with despicable riffs and atmosphere.

The same band members from the debut carry over into this album, and with them come enough quality riffs, leads, and relentless drumming to bring death metal another notch higher in terms of filth. From the wretched opener to the deafening break in “Skinfather” to the assaults of “Souldevourer” and “Reborn In Blasphemy”, this album never lets its guard down. Kärki on here always gives a great performance with his monstrous, thick growls sustaining the pounding guitars and bass. This time around, he’s a little more psychotic in his delivery, while Estby is pummeling with his destructive kit in blasts and warlike double bass.

Every moment on here is thunderous in one tempo or another, with the chainsaw guitar tone and strident bass back-up leading the charge. The leads are melodic enough to maintain some level of class, particularly on the closer, “Dreaming In Red” (the album’s emotional track), which happens to be one of my favorite songs by the band. In it, the leads drip with melody that continues the stream of dignity. It’s the only song on the album that maintains a steady tempo and structure that’s unlike the rest of the album (not to say that the other tracks are all the same), with unmatched poignancy and doom in the atmosphere.

Indecent & Obscene bows to Like An Ever Flowing Stream, as any death metal album should. It has its place in death metal among the elite. In this way, life is more balanced than it would otherwise be. Add it to your collection if you haven’t, and it’ll balance your life the same way. Funny how something called Indecent & Obscene would do so.

The second Dismember album, Indecent and Obscene, is an obligatory stopover for those who appreciate the real swedish death metal in its purest form. This band, before adding more melodies to the always brutal and raw approach to death metal, was always very good at creating really dry out, essential and furious pieces of brutality. This album is probably the biggest example of it because it shows an even rawer production if compared to the debut and the violence by this band knows to boundaries.

Dismember have always had a far more essential production than the other bands on this genre. For example, they have a truly morbid, chainsaw guitars sound and a clear-cut drums one. Everything is sharper and this production is just great to me. Indecent and Obscene is a bridge between the recent past of the band and the new period. The compositions are brutal but also better structured and show also signs of how the band’s future will be. To the violence of the opener, “Fleshless”, we find the catchier but always extreme riffs of “Skinfather”. Sometimes they also have something from black metal to me but in other parts they are a bit less morbid.

The stop and go are in fast succession and there’s no time to relax. The drumming is bludgeoning in its sharp progression and the guitars follow adding more brutality. The vocals are suffocated but always quite “clear” for the genre and not too extreme. Their rough tonality is perfect to balance the sharper sounds by the instruments and, at the same time, it’s also good to add darkness and morbidity. Some more grooving passages on “Sorrowfilled” are even welcome but they don’t delete the brutality of a band that is always ready to explode though more canonical and ferocious up tempo parts. The down tempo parts are the most morbid ones and they also contain several screams.

The solos are never too fast and they are there just to add an infernal touch to the compositions. We can also find hints if melody in their sound. “Case # Obscene” is gloom like few others and it shows also several, drastic tempo changes. The drumming here is just amazing for catchiness and variety. The blasting assault of “Souldevourer” follows to add more brutality. The up tempo parts are in fast succession but we can also find some more mid-paced sections where the guitars point everything on creating a dark scenario to restart in violence. Here the solos are far more melodic with signs of change.

In “Reborn in Blasphemy” there are various parts in stop and go technique by the guitars but nothing annoying for a purist of death metal. By the way, the fast paced parts are destructive and we can find also a break with arpeggios. Well, with “Eviscerated (Bitch)” we reach the limits in extremism. This song is the most furious on this album and here the band is faster than light. If the “9th Circle” is again fast, with “Dreaming in Red” we find the signs of a future evolution with darker melodies and less anger. On this song, the atmospheres are decadent, solitary and sad. The riffs are far more melodic even if the fast restarts are always behind the corner.

This Indecent and Obscene album is another confirm of the goodness of a band that was changing a bit its style and approach to the genre. Here the most morbid and darkest elements were filtered also through the new found sense of melody. By the way, the violence and the brutality here it’s still far more present and you can’t go wrong if you like true death metal.

Yes, this album causes nostalgia. Nostalgia to past days, where death metal still existed in the form of eagerness and the will to make a change or to set a landmark in the history of the genre forever. Dismember represent the Swedish death metal movement that have made a different approach to modern day death metal than their American counterparts from Florida, New York, etc. This type of music is characterized through moments of pure aggression and songs that create a certain dusk-like atmosphere, only to burst into frenzied ravage over and over. Dismember pick up right after where they left off with their last intense EP "Pieces", to create yet another solid slab of Swedish death metal. "Indecent and Obscene" is their second full length album and has its own charm, hence making it difficult to differentiate wether it's their greatest effort or not.

The instant this album starts a loud and tormented scream, accompanied by down tuned, sawing guitars and a past pace drum beat introduce the listener into the madness yet to come. Dismember surely know how death metal has to be presented, since the first song "Fleshless" immediately catches attention, making it difficult to stop listening. At the same time you will be finding yourself nodding the head back and forth in a violent motion. The song pattern interrupts at times, bringing pounding staccato riffs at certain parts of songs, contributing to the effectiveness of each individual chorus, pre-chorus or n-bridge. Drum parts associate these groovy and choppy riffs with amazing double bass streams and an impressive variation on toms and cymbals.

The raw production of the whole record is an atmospheric frenzy filled with pure aggression and energy, transcending the emotion of post-apocalyptic hopelessness to another level of perception. Its instrument is full gain flowing into the guitar sound in combination with a permutation of catchy, sawing riffs and assaulting drum beats. The whole ideology of the genre is reduced to its aggressive side and derives from the unsaturated beast within the curious listener. The more melodic parts are representative for the typical Swedish sound, but with a far more fierce approach than later Gothenburg melodic death metal acts (such as In Flames, Soilwork or Dark Tranquillity). The whole magic of this release lies within its simplicity. As soon as a seemingly docile melody is spotted, it immediately gets battered into the ground by yet another awe-inspiring, brutal, yet majestic riff. No song has any room for heartbreaking romantic moments that simply do not belong here.

Highly recommended for any fan of death metal.

With already 2 successful releases behind Dismember released their maybe most classic but at least best selling album "Indecent & Obscene". When making such a classic album cover for the 3rd time & tunes that simply sounds to be deranged from hell it's hard to not succeed in the Death Metal genre. Dismember did of course get a lot of success with this masterpiece, listen to it & you'll understand why....

Dismember breaks all hell loose with the aggressive opening "Fleshless" & when it's over it's time for the first really classic track "Skinfather". A fast track that fades out after around 2 minutes to become one of the heaviest tunes ever. There's also a really weird guitar solo by David Blomqvist but it's still sounds great even though it's really weird. Track number 3 & 4 are 2 fast-heavy tracks with great melodies & all but both are somewhat just beneath the top. The track "Souldevourer" is a great tune & also a very underated Dismember classic. It might not start off that special but after a little while this weird guitar thing starts off & it's just awesome. Next track to be in the same category as "Skinfather" is "Reborn In Blasphemy", a true classic & at least on Dismember´s top 5 greatest tunes. Track 7 & 8 are 1 song parted into 2 but again it's just beneath the top. The last track is my all time Dismember favorite, it's the legendary "Dreaming In Red". It's simply the best song ever made in this genre & it has it all, speed, melody, feeling, sadness, hatred you name it...

The production is awesome even though it sounds a little more mainstream. It's raw, furious, melodic & in anyway awesome. Listen to the guitar solos (especially "Dreaming In Red") & hear what a great emotional tone David got. When I saw the video for "Dreaming" I almost cried, I've probably never heard anything better except for Randy Rhoads solos. Matti Kärki's awesome growl has been given a very nice echo sound which make the vocals totally awesome.

The cast is doing great & is more pist off than ever. It sounds like Fred Estby really pushes it all to the limit because the drums sounds somewhat more like on "Dark Recollections" by Carnage then on "Like An Everflowing Stream", that will say that it sounds like he can't play that fast without dropping his drumsticks. Anyway, it's an awesome job by Fred. David & Robert are doin' great with their dark guitars & the raw tone that's just drilling through your head ear to ear. Another great thing with this album is the awesome bass tone of Richard Cabeza's. It has a dark & melodic sound all the way & you can hear it especially on "Reborn" & "Dreaming".

Although all tracks are of excellent quality it's tracks like "Skinfather", "Souldevourer", "Reborn In Blasphemy" & "Dreaming In Red" that makes this album to a real masterpiece. I would probably say that this is the best Death Metal album ever recorded or if it's not, then it's Dismember's "Like An Everflowing Stream".

I recomend this album strongly because it has all the things a real D.M album needs & it's overall one of the best albums ever made. Top 10 in my collection for sure!

A lot of people tend to overlook “Indecent and Obscene” in light of its oft’ and rightfully lauded predecessor, but thanks to the magic of a local used CD store, I am no longer among those neglectors, and have dutifully come to spread the nostalgic joy that this release releases.

On all levels, Dismember’s second full-length is strongly satisfying, and tastefully executed. In fact, this forgotten jewel is a painful prompt of just how off-base modern extreme metal has become.

Firstly, Trym’s of the world take heed: there’s zero tactless blasting present in this CD, just precise, groovy drum work courtesy of Fred Estby. In addition, a menacing, chunky guitar tone immediately pounces upon its listener after the ritualistic "pressing of the play button" and proceeds to pound him/her senseless throughout an agonizing thirty-five minute ordeal guaranteed to sort out the faint of heart and head; yet unlike the 2002 release from a certain high profile, Swedish tribute group, Dismember’s riffs and solos are every bit as legendary as their terrifying tenor. Part of what makes these riffs so engaging and fulfilling is the discernable variety in the musicianship. Chances are, any live humans within the listening area will be head banging, grooving, and playing air-guitar, (not simultaneously mind you, we humans are stuck with a mere two limbs) and usually all in the course of one song. Indeed, Dismember circa 1993 were superb songwriters that knew how to shift speeds, mix up the riffing techniques, and properly build up to the solos as opposed to say the tripe Deicide was putting out around this time where every now and then a light bulb went off inside one of the Hoffman brother’s head and he said, “Egad, I almost forgot to put a solo in this song. Warp speed ahead! Fingers don’t fail me now!” Yes, unlike Deicide’s frantic, random, and utterly useless fret board wanderings, this Dismember record puts the “soul” back in solo (and a downright sinister soul at that). Rather than stay at the same speed on every song, these saucy Swedes bend notes like Beckham bows balls and create sounds that soar above and beyond the wearisome waste excreted by the Kerry King’s and Jeff Hanneman’s of the world. Hell, the solo that starts off “Dreaming In Red” is better than anything Slayer’s celebrated couple has trapped on tape since 1983’s “Show No Mercy.” Then there’s the groove. Not shitty slam riffs, and not a wretched retread of “Walk,” but masterful moments like the end of “Sorrowfield” that make my entire body involuntarily thrust and gyrate. Rounding out this impressive musical resume is Matti Karki’s inspired vocal performance. These tonsil-shedding screams severely shame the lackluster lung-purging put forth by about 85% of the modern death metal scene, and surprisingly, the overall ignominy doesn’t stop there! Not content with the (now) typical and tired John Tardy level of indecipherability, the listener is given a bonus of sorts, as most of the lyrics are audible, providing some self-indulgent sing-a-long moments for the choirboy inside everyone (always a considerate caretaker that Matti Karki).

If “Like an Everflowing Stream” left you yearning for more, “Indecent and Obscene” will certainly appease those anxious aches, and thanks to a recent Nuclear Blast re-issue, this classic can now be found in digipack format with the equally enjoyable “Pieces” EP attached at the end. Do it.

A great follow up to their excellent debut album, "Indecent and Obscene" (aptly titled after a british newspaper referred to the band as being indecent and obscene) is another great slab or pure swedish death metal.

I've grown to love Sunlight Studios' production, even though almost every swedish band has recorded there. Dismember always managed to get a different sound with their chainsaw guitars and incredibly powerful drums. So, this adds to the fact that the band always were/are true to their death metal roots. And yes, I think Dismember has proven that they were no "Entombed clone band".

"Fleshless" is a fast opener, where the mood is set for the rest of the album. Then, "Skinfather", which is my fave track, just bursts out with another great riff and one of the best headbanging sections I've ever banged my head to, right in the middle of the song. Now, that's what Dismember is all about. They start building everything from the riff, adding the second guitar, then bass and drums and then the drums start shifting beats and it all ends up with the ultra melodic solo. Unbelievable!

"Sorrowfilled" is a good mid paced song that adds up with the album. So are "Case # Obscene" and "Souldevourer". Then, a classic tune "Reborn in Blasphemy". I nearly cried when I heard this one. Instant classic! "Eviscerated (Bitch)" and "9th Circle" are two furious death metal songs that remind me of the good old demo-days Dismember. "Dreaming In Red" is the perfect finale to wrap up one of Sweden's best death metal releases ever.