Dismantle - Satanic Force

I'm back just to do a timely review of a 2009 release. This had been languishing in my ridiculously large to-be-listened-to pile for quite some time, and while I slightly regret it now, I had good reasons. I can't think of any newer AreaDeath signees that I've found all that engaging, and I'm much more interested in their reissues anyway. Then the band had less-than-stellar aesthetic sense, which normally isn't a good sign--the Ed Repka cover is one of the sillier pieces I've seen by him, the extra pentagrams they didn't even bother to directly integrate into the logo feel overdone, and then there's the lineup pic:

So from left to right, we have unamused young Ryan Waste doppelgänger, a Hispanic fellow with both a very unfortunate haircut and a similarly unfortunate upper body physique (to be fair, based on the cover, I assume it's a unstiffened fat guy mohawk like the one Possessor guitarist had, and not some weird side-shaved shit), and 13-year old Igor Cavalera, who does not have the benefit of a Wehrmacht-style helmet here.

Yet, much to my surprise, the music was far superior to the average American retrothrash band of the '00s. On the surface, the album is largely Teutonic-sounding, with lots of early Destruction influences in the melodies specifically (especially "Satanic Metal"), and perhaps a bit of Persecution Mania too. But I was struck about how many Death influences I heard, but in a purer thrash context. Several of the songs have a very Leprosy-feeling flow to the guitars (unfortunately, there are no Rozz divebombs). "Exorcistic Rites" has that part that's slightly similar to the "Left to Die" intro, there's a "Vile Spell" riff that sounds vaguely like the "Evil Dead" melody, and "Ritual of the Dead" sounds like it could be a song by a blatantly Death-influenced band like Morfin. Despite this, I must stress that Dismantle rarely edge towards death/thrash, let alone death metal. On top of everything else, there are some very tasty Possessed/Whiplash style leads. 

Then there are vocals, which I imagine are very divisive. The guy is extremely fond of throwing in lots and lots of shrieks, obviously in homage to Schmier/Araya, but unfortunately for him, he literally screams like a girl. It's so over the top I find it actually fit with the music. I do wish the normal vocals were a little better, though--you can tell the vocalist was on the younger side here, and I would have liked a little more character and charisma in the vocals. Still, they come off as more energetic than something like the lethargic Merciless Death vocals, and they fit the music better than the snottier pseudo-punk style a lot of pizzathrash used.

While quite good, this is nowhere near the level of its influences, and the album is seriously lacking in variety at times--it just powers through any genericness and samey-ness with speed. Still, while it's on, it's an enjoyable listen.