Scott continues his series of Rock Doc reviews.
Old School Swedish Death Metal
(OSSDM) has been a long running hobby of mine in my music studies since my
teenage years. Dismember, along with
peers such as Entombed, Grave, and Unleashed carved out one of the most
distinctive and brutal imprints of Death Metal in the early nineties, carrying
on to present day.
Their music was raw, fast, and
brutal, which is a trait characteristic of Death Metal, but the secret sauce in
the Swedish sound was in the one of a kind guitar tone. Originated by Nihilist guitarist Leffe Cuzner
by down tuning a guitar to C and maxing out all of the potentiometers on a Boss
HM-2 distortion pedal, this distinct guitar tone has influenced countless bands
ranging all the way from Death Metal, Grindcore, and even certain elements of
Hardcore and continues to influence droves of bands to this day.
Dismember
- Death Metal & More Mental Illness is part of
Dismember's swansong Under Blood Red
Skies, their final live release, and final release at that back in
2009. Dismember - Death Metal & More Mental Illness is the companion
disc to the live DVD. Personally, I
think it should have been the focal point of this release and the live DVD an
afterthought to see the band off properly as it is a treasure trove of info on
the band for any Dismember junkie such as myself. With Dismember
- Death Metal & More Mental Illness you get to see Dismember at their goofiest which I always enjoy watching as a
juxtaposition to the brutal, serious nature of the music. Candid interviews with each member give us an
interesting insight into their lives as a part of one of the most influential
death metal bands in history.
Dismember
- Death Metal & More Mental Illness includes
additional live footage, interlaced with the interviews and stories from the
each member. I most enjoyed the
discussions with Martin Persson, who ironically was only a member of the band
for the last 6 years of their 23 year run.
One of the things that bummed me though was no interviews with Fred
Estby, an original member of Dismember who unfortunately left the band in 2007
to start up The Dagger. That is forgiven
to a certain degree because the scope of Dismember
- Death Metal & More Mental Illness is not supposed to be a career
retrospective, it is a glimpse into the life of the Dismember of 2009, and that
makes it just as interesting.
Score
-Scott W. Lambert