| Mourning September (Demo) | 1990 | None |
Despite the recording quality being a major minus, I wouldn't say that the demo is utterly ruined. The extreme doom we are served still creates the puddle of filth that it seems to be intended to do.
I should probably say that for those of you who consider MY Dying Bride to be the doctrine of doom/death, have a listen to this. It's nowhere near being romantic. Nor is it peaceful and melodic. This is raw and brutal, like a scorching branding iron to the eye. Where My Dying Bride would mourn a break-up by writing poetry, these guys would grind the bitch into a bloody pulp.
Having said this, it is probably obvious that most melodic doom/death fans wouldn't really enjoy this. Fans of raw oldschool sludge/doom, or other extreme brutal and noisy music, would on the other hand find this to be their cup of sulphuric acid tea.
1. Mourning September (Intro)
2. Improvised Filth
3. Extracted Nails
4. Thin Messiah
5. Outro
Approx. 22 minutes
| Deep Sensory Procession Into Aural Fate (Demo) | 1991 | None |
On this demo we hear, for the first time, two songs that were to be reworked several times after. The 'My Divine Punishment' intro didn't make it to later versions of the band's work, but the rest of 'The Tree of Life and Death', as it would come to be called, remained virtually intact. As such, we are treated to 'little d's original mix of fast and extremely slow death metal in its pure form.
The same goes for 'A Burial at Ornans', aside from intro, outro and small details. Of course, the fineries that made the full length album so special are still absent on these tracks, but this certainly is an interesting release for those who are interested in diSEMBOWELMENT's musical history.
At the same time, this is also a pioneering release that would come to shape the sound of modern underground doom/death and funeral doom, together with the contemporary works of, for example, Thergothon and Winter. Many of today's artists were influenced by the sounds that first saw light in these two tracks.
1. River of Salvation: My Divine Punishment - The Tree Of Life And Death
2. A Burial At Ornans (as your soul befalls...)
Approx. 26 minutes
| Dusk (Mcd) | 1992 | Relapse |
The sound on 'Dusk' is more raw and unprocessed compared to the unbelievable production of 'Trancendence'. The guitar sound is more 'crunchy' and less heavy, while the tempo of the tracks is slightly up compared to the re-recorded versions. As such, this may be the ideal album to convert grind/death fans subtly to doomy sounds. The vision and philosophy of the band is already clear on this release, but it's also clear that they refined their sound heavily on their ful-length.
The most striking track on this release -certainly considering its date- is the last one. "Cerulean transience…" takes the listener in a long journey through the realms of slow, threatening and mystical ambience. The typical, monotonous clean guitar which is spread all over the massive underlying heaviness of the album, became the trademark of this band. It is the most characteristic derivative of an -at first sight vain- attempt to reconcile the world of the mystical atmospheres with the realms or relentless brutality. Yet they succeeded displaying such an elegance, that it makes you wonder why no one had forseen this crazy marriage of two opposite worlds.
Bands like Evoken, Dusk and Esoteric owe a lot to that early and unexpected vision of diSEMBOWELMENT. Together with them, we bow in awe to the mighty 'd'.
1. The tree of life and death
2. A burial at Ornance
3. Cerulian transience of all my imagined shores
Approx. 29 minutes
| Transcendence into the peripheral (CD) | 1993 | Relapse |
Having their roots firmly in death/grind ground, diSEMBOWELMENT combine extremely brutal blastbeats with very slow, utterly heavy parts. The incredible production, heavy as fuck and at the same time crystal clear, emphasizes both the brutality and the atmospheric ambience of this band. One has sometimes the impression that Dead Can Dance united their forces with Satan's own Philarmonic Orchestra from Hell, delivering a masterpiece able to take us in a single moment from the serene shores of Paradise to the dark pits of Hell.
Some primitive clean guitar melodies appear over the low-tuned distorted violence one can hear throughout the album. This makes diSEMBOWELMENT's sound very recognizable. The strength and unique power of diSEMBOWELMENT lays in the fact that they are able to combine the most opposite forces in extreme music within the same track, without ever losing out of sight the power and spontaneity of the compositions. Atmospheric elements like clean guitars, female vocals, a cello and Tibetan bells sparely make their appearance on this album, with such a subtility that they usually remain undiscovered by those unitiated.
It was written in the stars that this unique band would deliver with 'Transcendence' their swansong and ultimate testament of their unparalled art, inspiring many a talented extreme doom band, and providing them with a particular vision. However, those who understood the force that drives diSEMBOWELMENT, shall hardly mourn about this. Let this album always remain a moment in time, like the blowing of the wind, the silent murmuring of the see or the song of a passing bird. For we will not pass this way again…
1. The Tree of Life and Death
2. Your Prophetic Throne of Ivory
3. Excoriate
4. Nightside of Eden
5. A Burial at Ornans
6. The Spirits of the Tall Hills
7. Cerulean Transience of All my Imagined Shores
Approx. 60 minutes