My 100 Favorite Metal Bands Pt. 36: Dismember

Dismember has been one of the most consistent bands in the Stockholm death metal scene. They are the band to point to best characterize the sound that is typical of the scene. Their buzzsaw-style riffs and deep guttural vocals have been often imitated by other groups in the scene, but Dismember has been doing it consistently since the late 1980's. Their sound is rooted in thrash metal and crust punk, but Dismember plays it extremely heavy and extremely violently. Dismember has never released a bad album either, and picking just one favorite is very difficult.

FAVORITE ALBUM: MASSIVE KILLING CAPACITY

Weekly Recap Feb. 21-Feb. 27

This one will be short since there is little to no news this week.

My fiancee came down with a cold, or the flu, or something late this week. I am home today taking care of her. Poor baby.

I picked up the new High on Fire album earlier in the week, which I have already reviewed. Today I got a CD in the mail from a band called Rusty Eye who asked me to review their album. That review will be prepared by midweek.

That's it for the week.

3 Inches of Blood: Advance and Vanquish
Amon Amarth: The Crusher
Anacrusis: Manic Impressions
Ancient: The Halls of Eternity
Anvil: Forged in Fire
Apophis: Heliopolis
Arsis: Starve for the Devil
Atheist: Piece of Time
Behemoth: Pandemonic Incantations
Believer: Gabriel
Cannibal Corpse: Eaten Back to Life
Carnifex: Hell Chose Me
Cellador: Enter Deception
Celtic Frost: Monotheist
Dark Funeral: Attera Totus Sanctus
Dark Tranquillity: Damage Done
Dark Tranquillity: The Gallery
Dawn of Azazel: Vita Est Militia Super Terram
Destroyer 666: Unchain the Wolves
Dew-Scented: Issue VI
Dismember: Massive Killing CapacityDomine: Dragonlord (Tales of the Noble Steel)
Down: NOLA
Dying Fetus: War of Attrition
Enslaved: Ruun
Enslaved: Vertebrae
Gardenian: Sindustries
Grave: As Rapture Comes
Halford: Resurrection
Hammerfall: Threshold
Hecate Enthroned: Upon Promeathean Shores
Hell's Headbangers Compilation Vol. 2
High on Fire: Snakes for the Divine
Misery's Omen: Hope Dies
Misery's Omen: Misery's Omen
Nailbomb: Proud to Commit Commercial Suicide
Napalm Death: Fear, Emptiness, Despair
Orphaned Land: The Never Ending Way of ORwarriOR
Portal: Outre'
Quinta Essentia: Archetypal Transformation
Revocation: Existence is Futile
Rotting Christ: Khronos 666
Rotting Christ: Sanctus Diavolos
Rotting Christ: Theogonia
Satanic Slaughter: The Early Years: Dawn of Darkness
Six Feet Under: Commandment
Skyfire: Spectral
Sonata Arctica: Silence
Testament: Souls of Black
The Crown: Crowned in Terror
Vader: Impressions in Blood
Vital Remains: Icons of Evil
Watchtower: Energetic Disassembly

Swedish Death Metal

Swedish Death Metal. It is one of those series of words that can be uttered and automatically, a vision (or in this case the audio equivalent of a vision) is played in the minds of those fortunate enough to know just what the hell I'm talking about. Norwegian black metal is another one and German thrash metal is another one still and Milwaukee polka fusion (okay, that last one I may have made up). Swedish death metal had a style and sound all it's own. It was so popular that there was even a book written on the subject titled Swedish Death Metal (hint: Christmas idea for your favorite blogger) by Daniel Ekeroth.

The scene traces its origins to Stockholm. The sound is intense and aggressive: buzzsaw-sounding guitars attained through the use of down-tuning and distortion pedals, pounding drums, and deep growls and psychotic shrieks. The guitar sound came to be known as the Sunlight Studios guitar tone after the studio in which many of the bands often recorded.

So, what are the origins? Let's look at some bands:

First there was Nihilist and Carnage. I am unfortunately not terribly familiar with Carnage, so I can't say much about them. Nihilist recorded a bunch of demos, but never an actual full length album. The recordings were raw but that guitar tone was definitely present and the stage was set. Both Nihilist and Carnage soon split. Carnage members went on to form Dismember and Arch Enemy. Dismember will be discussed soon, Arch Enemy not so much in this post. Nihilist was finished when Johnny Hedlund left to form Unleashed. Which brings us to the next era in this sound and the time when it began taking on a life of its own.Dismember is one of the better groups from this wave, and my personal favorite. The band has quite simply not put out a bad album. They began as aggressive, take-no-prisoners death metal and they remained that way throughout their discography. They may have added some additional melodies occasionally, but their bloodlust still remains. The band is quite simply one of the best death metal bands, period.Unleashed is somewhat similar to Amon Amarth in that they often sing about Vikings and they play death metal. But where Amon Amarth has been accepted into the mainstream music scene somewhat (as much as any extreme metal band is capable I suppose), Unleashed has remained on the outside looking in. Why is that? One may never know.After Hedlund formed Unleashed, the remaining members of Nihilist formed the great Entombed. Entombed's first full length album was a re-recording of some of the Nihilist songs and set the gold standard for Swedish death metal. Left Hand Path is the album against which all other albums are measured. Unfortunately it was downhill from there. Not long after wards (their third album to be exact) the band started experimenting with other styles of metal. This style became known as death 'n roll. I will spare the descriptions, just imagine what the name would entail. This style wasn't bad, but it wasn't the same.While Entombed no longer plays this style, Dismember and Unleashed have remained true to their roots. Other bands that have played or do play Swedish death metal include Grave, Nominon, Hypocrisy, Chaosbreed (Finnish band, who knew?), Hail of Bullets (to a certain degree, definitely inspired by many of the bands), Aeon, Bloodbath (definitely a tribute band), Seance, Evocation, and many others.