Review by Joshua on March 19, 2005.

Okay, for the impatient, here’s the bottom line: this is either formulaic Swedish death metal, punctuated with outstanding moments, or an outstanding album peppered with some hackneyed Swedish death metal. I couldn’t tell you which description is best. Deciding which of these two extremes most correctly characterizes Where the Ironcrosses Grow is impossible. The end result is exactly half-outstanding, and half-annoyingly trite. Not only that, but rather than having a mixture of one-half boring songs, and one-half interesting ones, songs range from really irritating segments, to some incredibly amazing segments. In other words, individual songs alternate between great and terrible.

Dismember retain their characteristic playing style throughout: thrash rhythms, classical scales, and an overuse of distortion that almost rivals Motorhead. The album sports a trademark, obstinate coherency that many other recent albums lack, with a playing style that sounds a lot like older Dismember. Alternately, this also sounds much like old Entombed. In many ways, this is a throwback to the days of Death Metal, when the two bands were almost completely interchangeable. What, another cover of “Sinners Bleed?” No, my mistake, that’s the track “Where Angels Fear to Tread.” Fortunately, there are enough original segments to hold the attention of listeners old enough to remember when Entombed could play.

Dismember’s influences are a bit more apparent on this release. The classic thrash influence shows strongly on several tracks. This is sometimes a refreshing anachronism, but not always; like many other reviewers, I’m forced to laugh at their attempt to turn into Iron Maiden during “Tragedy of the Faithful.” This is a fine example of a brilliant moment that is completely, utterly fucking misplaced with the rest of this album. There’s a lot of this, you know. Listening to this album gives me the feeling that Dismember fired every brilliant idea they had into random pieces of individual songs, peppering this CD’s tracks like scattershot. Granted some of their experimentation is stupid; for instance, immediately following “Tragedy of the Faithful,” we hear a poorly sampled movie chant to start off “Chasing the Serpent.” Not only is this a senseless inclusion, it also distracts the listener from an otherwise ominous introduction.

If Dismember polished the sound achieved on Massive Killing Capacity, rather than sounding like Entombed in 1989, this would receive better marks. Instead, this is either boring Swedish death with some amazing breakaway moments, or an album of outstanding music watered down with stale Swedish death. Deciding which is really up to the listener.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship: 7
Atmosphere: 7
Production: 6
Originality: 5
Overall: 7

Rating: 6.5 out of 10

Review by Tomek on April 8, 2010.

Name Dismember should be well known for any Death Metal fan, and if you’re a Dismember fan, name “Live Blasphemies” should be well known to you. Finishing their 2003 “Death Metal” campaign all over Europe, Dismember played last concert of the tour in their hometown of Stockholm. Fortunately for all of us, they decided to hire the right people and record the whole thing professionally, and I have to say that this is probably one of the best concert DVD’s out there.

Dismember put themselves ahead of the pack by giving all the best there is out there when it comes to viewing concert DVD. Widescreen format shows full view of the stage, so the whole band can be seen performing and nothing can get missed. Everything was recorded with multiple cameras so we can view the concert from every part of the venue, all directions, distances and all kinds of different angles. Directed and put together in a way that shows the intensity of performance, professionalism of the band and passion not only of musicians but also the fans (just watching most of the headbanging on this DVD almost gave me a whiplash!). Fantastic lighting accompanies and enhances Dismember’s performance, allowing things to be seen when they need to be seen, but the real treat is the sound. Way too many times I’ve watched DVD’s that looked awesome, but sound on them destroyed or lessened the experience. Dismember sounds incredible from beginning to the end, both individually and as a whole. Song choices span their entire career and it is a pleasure to listen to all the classics in such a great quality. Drums, guitars, bass and vocals all sound audible but still harsh as they should at the concert. Menu choices give you Stereo, Dolby 5.1 or DTS and all of them sound amazing. This DVD should be used as an example of how to record sound and video at the Death Metal concert. Both thumbs all the way up!

Disc two is the documentary - and this is a pure bonus for fans of the band. Matti, David and Fred get interviewed and give full history of the band (in Swedish, but subtitled of course) with their own comments and all kinds of stories from back when they started the band up to the present (missing lyrics, censorship, name origins and such). Interview section is cleverly intertwined with raw concert videos from early days all the way up to the 2003 tour, after show backstage with the band, some really funny drunken related tour footage with all the jokes attached and occasional appearances of some known members of bands they toured with (conversation about church burnings with Dan Lilker from Brutal Truth being my favorite). Priceless!

DVD also includes: History of the band and current members, Dismember discography, DVD credits, image gallery and subtitles (Matti talks in Swedish through the whole concert), chapters and audio options.

Dismember- “Live Blasphemies” (concert and the documentary) is one of the best concert DVD’s you can buy and I highly recommended it not only to the fans of the band but to all fans of Death Metal. Check it out and get Dismemberized.

Categorical Rating Breakdown

Musicianship:9
Atmosphere: 8
Production: 10
Originality: 8.5
Overall: 9

Rating: 8.9 out of 10