This Swedish act’s third album has apparently been 11 years in the making and is “regarded by the band as a work of Sonic Black Magic”. “I can’t wait for the singer/songwriter to get out of prison so this band can release more album” is a quote from Metal Review.com that still has me in stitches. “We have invested our souls in this album, gone through fire and brimstone to make everything work” is another keeper. Taking this hyperbole with a grain of salt, I was wondering if their efforts were worth all this before listening to “Reinkaos”. With a fresh set of ears, having never heard their prior two releases, I can sort of see what the fuss is all about. I have never heard an album quite like this. What we have here are mostly mid paced songs. DISSECTION speed up at times but not much. This is straight up Spartan-like meat and potatoes metal played with wanton abandon. The vocals are of the black metal sound, yet the music is of a much more classic metal sound. The guitars are seemingly played in mostly minor (as well as some major) key signatures as there is no diminished dissonance to found here. Masterful wah guitar solos are present and the riffs on standout tracks such as “Black Dragon” and the even more manically balls out “Dark Mother Divine” bring to mind classic JUDAS PRIEST.

The bio mentions this as being “recommended for fans of AT THE GATES, IN FLAMES, BARK TRANQUILITY, SLAYER, THE HAUNTED” and I can’t argue that. Having seen THE HAUNTED live (as well as hearing a few recordings) I can vouch for that and I have heard minimal amounts of AT THE GATES and I guess there is a similarity to a degree. Don’t see too much SLAYER except when this outfit occasionally speeds up on fast paced numbers like “Xper-I-Set. Some of the intros like the opener “Nexion 13” and mid disc “Chaosophia” sound like they could have been lifted from “Master Of Puppets” which I cannot say I have a problem with at all. Stylistically this is not at all dissimilar to WIDOW sans the female vocals and campy sense of humor. The more melodic and anthem like direction DISSECTION's travels the more appealing this Swedish metal onslaught becomes.

Why they picked such a sub-generic death metal moniker is anyone’s guess. Maybe the earlier material fits this profile and since The End (quite possibly my fave metal label at the moment) is re-releasing these two I may get the chance to understand this more appropriately soon enough. I sincerely hope the metal community at large does not have to timorously suffer through another 11 years waiting for the follow-up to this. That would be a headbanging travesty. That would be 2017, you sorry salivating sods. This rocks…Beavis!!

- Herring

OFFICIAL SITE: www.dissection.nu

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