Dismember

Dismember was a Swedish death metal band that was active from 1988 to 2011. The band are reportedly planning to reunite in 2018 to celebrate their 30th anniversary. Pioneers of Swedish death metal, Dismember is now considered one of the country’s “big four”, alongside Entombed, Grave and Unleashed.

The band formed in Stockholm in 1988. After a hiatus, during which several members joined Carnage, the band began recording in earnest in 1991 and released their debut, Like an Ever Flowing Stream in 1991. The album is today heralded as a milestone for the burgeoning Swedish death metal scene and established the band’s fanbase, which was further bolstered by the controversy surrounding one song in particular, “Skin Her Alive”. The song prompted an obscenity charge in the United Kingdom, against which the band successfully defended themselves. 

In 1992, Dismember released the Pieces EP, and the following year continued with second full-length Indecent & Obscene which featured their song “Dreaming in Red”; the “Dreaming in Red” video clip was shown in MTV’s Headbangers Ball. According to an interview with fellow Nuclear Blast group Benediction in metallian.com, Dismember and the said band got into a business dispute and eventually a fisticuff at this stage over tour arrangements and moneys owed.

Like many of the other Scandinavian death metal bands, Dismember began softening their sound in the mid-1990s, with 1995’s Massive Killing Capacity more melodic approaches, which had a good public response. Nevertheless, they attempted a return to style with 1997’s Death Metal, which ultimately became a sales disappointment. Their last album for Nuclear Blast was 2000’s Hate Campaign.

Around 2003, Dismember set a new path and signed for Karmageddon Records. In 2004, they released their sole album with that label titled Where Ironcrosses Grow which some thought sounds close to Hate Campaign and was inspired by Iron Maiden and Autopsy.

They switched record companies again in 2005, signing to Regain Records, which bought the rights to their earlier albums as well and released them as luxury digipak editions. In 2006, Dismember released their seventh album The God That Never Was continuing in the style of its predecessor. The band spent February on the road in Europe. In November 2006, Dismember toured Europe as part of the Masters of Death tour, with Grave, Unleashed, Entombed and Exterminator.

After the release of The God That Never Was and some touring, Estby left the band “after long and careful consideration”. In a posting on the official site on April 20, 2007, Estby cites the demands of touring and the needs of his family as key reasons for him leaving the band. His statements appears as “My decision to put my family in first hand makes it impossible to keep on touring and commit to the band full time. I want to thank all the fans, friends, bands and all the other cool people I’ve met through the years and I wish Dismember all the best in the future. Fred.”

In April 2008, they released their eighth and final album, Dismember.

Dismember released a two-disc DVD titled Under Blood Red Skies in late July 2009. The live concerts were filmed in the Netherlands and at the 2008 Party San Open Air Festival in Bad Berka, Germany. The DVD also included a documentary and interviews with band members. The cover art was created by Erik Danielsson of Trident Art.

On October 16, 2011, bassist Tobias Cristiansson revealed in a statement that Dismember had broken up: “After 23 years, Dismember have now decided to quit. We wish to thank all our fans for your support.”

On a possible reunion, drummer Fred Estby told Invisible Oranges in August 2016: “People were telling me that all the time. So maybe we should try to do some shows and get everything back. We always owned our rights to the albums and shirts, but there’s still loose ends to tie up. I just wanted to set the record straight and hopefully do some shows in the future.”

Dismember is reportedly gearing up to reunite in 2018 to celebrate their 30th anniversary.