Review by Lawrence Stillman on October 9, 2024.

18 years after their formation, Another Dimension finally releases their debut full-length. Take one look at the sole founding member left in this album line-up, and you can already guess who they will take their influence from...

Surprisingly, this doesn't feel like an Intestine Baalism worship album like Baa-Rhythm did; instead, they took the IB influences and combined them with the thrashy elements from one of the bands that one of the members is affiliated with, Terror Squad, and the overly melodic rhythms that appeared in "Slaughter Of The Soul". As a result, this album is more melodic and thrashy than any IB album, and in exchange, a good chunk of the brutality that IB is known for is lost. However, it is still very aggressive and brutal for a melodic death metal album (which is not a high bar), and being able to fill my fix for a more outside-the-norm melodic death metal experience is always welcome. Anything that can take me away from the Gothenburg-core bullshit is always welcome.

The songs themselves are not that complex or unique compared to the rest of the genre. While some of the songs took a more Gothenburg approach to songwriting (like the ones that immediately start with a verse instead of an intro), the rest did all their intros in various different ways, which made the songs even more distinguishable. For example, the last track of the album, 'Under The Spell', opens with a pretty standard riff, but they slow down and then build up to an epic riff with a very drawn-out shriek laid on top. It is very epic, and it reminds me of Gekiai no Yobigoe from ICDD's second album. I love sections like this, so I was ecstatic when another band put their own spin on this underrated trope. It was a nice break from all the melodic death metal bands that try to make it as radio-friendly as possible, given how they write their songs as if their audiences have absolutely zero attention span. What's next? Melodic death metal songs that are written to be as short as grindcore?

Musically, the guitars here are very raw and have the typical Swedeath HM2 buzzsaw tone to them, just way less dominating. And with it, the vocals now have the biggest presence in the mix, being very forward. It constantly switches from blackened thrash vocals like Sabbat or Venom to groove metal roars like later Fear Factory or the typical death growls found on Intestine Baalism and OSDM releases. The constant vocal swapping does make it very entertaining. The drums here also had a very raw sound, which also meant that the hi-hat and ride cymbals were too low in the mix, so it was indeed not a good listen for me. The bass is buried like usual, just like on any album with raw production. Although I have to admit that the raw production does give it a 90s feel that made the album much better than if it had been mixed in the same way that 2000s melodic death metal did, like Arch Enemy after Johan left (which sucks big time since they are too polished without a good reason).

While it is not Intestine Baalism, it is still a very good melodic death metal record if you want something like At The Gates if they bothered to write actually good songs that don't try to dumb down their sound for normies. I hope this band isn't a one-hit wonder that dissolves after an album comes out.

Highlights: 'Immortal Black Chaos', 'Hellstorm', 'Under The Spell'

Rating: 9.2 out of 10