Thursday, September 25, 2008

THE BERZERKER: Dissimulate


Produced by Luke Kenny
Released: 2002

Dissimulate saw The Berzerker take something more of a conventional approach to their brutal death metal onslaught than was evident on their insane 2000 debut. While the samples are still as overused as they were previously, the overt techno and industrial aspects of the self-titled album are virtually absent from this, and much of the grind element has been eased back as well. Quite why The Berzerker has chosen to do this is a mystery, because it was exactly that combination of components that made the debut so extreme and interesting, if occasionally difficult to listen to.

Without them, there's nothing to disguise the fact that The Berzerker's music -- at this point of their career -- was really just brutal death metal with ultra-fast drumming. The drumming on Dissimulate is fast, breathtakingly so, in fact, but once you get over the initial disbelief that a human being (Gary Thomas, from Perth band Plague) could possibly play at such incredible speeds, there isn't much to hold one's attention.

The tracks are brief and run into each other without much variation and the samples expounding on the same obsessive details of death and putrefaction that littered the debut become boring very quickly. Only 'Corporal Jigsore Quandary' really stands out, but as that's a Carcass cover it doesn't really count.

Dissimulate is still executed quite well but, drumming aside, it's not a particularly outstanding release.


  1. Disregard
  2. Failure
  3. The Principles and Practices of Embalming
  4. No One Wins
  5. Death Reveals
  6. Compromise
  7. Betrayal
  8. Last Mistake
  9. Painless
  10. Pure Hatred
  11. Paradox
  12. Abandonment
  13. Untitled
  14. Corporal Jigsore Quandary

Rating: 44%


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