The Berzerker
Dissimulate


4.0
excellent

Review

by somberlain USER (64 Reviews)
March 1st, 2011 | 13 replies


Release Date: 2002 | Tracklist

Review Summary: If you can make entertaining songs, who needs variety?

Coming out of Australia, The Berzerker call their sound “industrial death grind”, it’s a mix of death metal and grindcore with some industrial touches. Founder and vocalist Luke Kenny decided upon the band’s inception that in order to maintain the focus on the music and not on the individuals, every band member should wear a mask. Wearing these hideous masks, the members were only known by their instrument ie: “the guitarist”, “the bassist”, “the drummer” and “the vocalist”.

On The Berzerker’s self-titled debut, the band used a drum machine but for this their sophomore album, they use an actual drummer. Not that you would be able to tell the difference, because not only is the drumming inhumanly fast but the drum sounds are highly processed, giving it an electronic sound; but rest assured, there is a person behind this sound and he’s hitting something. To go along with the incredibly fast drumming is the equally fast guitar riffing which is surprisingly creative given the rigid confines of this style of music, the only soloing coming on the Carcass cover ‘Corporal Jigsore Quandary’. The dual vocals give Dissimulate an interesting touch, there are deep death metal-esque vocals and higher pitched vocals providing contrast.

Monotony and the grindcore genre seem to go hand in hand and there is not a whole lot of variety on Dissimulate. Album opener ‘Disregard’ (which seems to encourage cannibalism, I read the lyrics since the vocals are completely indecipherable) sets a blistering pace which continues for the approximately 35 minute duration of the album. After ‘Disregard’, all the tracks seem to blend together, broken up by random soundbytes of what seem to be documentaries (perhaps the discovery channel?), although they don’t really serve any purpose, they sound rather fascinating, such as the intro to ‘Compromise’: “Due to their remarkable power to withstand mutilation, the heart of this one, although cut in two, continues to pump blood to keep the animal conscious.” Sometimes there are soundbytes during songs but mostly the serve as intros. ‘Last Mistake’ surprisingly starts off slow but that quickly ends when the drums come blasting through at break neck speeds, speeds which are the status quo on Dissimulate and rarely let up. The guitarwork is truly what makes this album interesting and keeps it from being completely monotonous.

As far as the production on Dissimulate, the relentless drumwork is front and center and at times seems to overpower everything else. The drumming is not that special, it’s like one constant, static-y (because of the electronic drum pads) blastbeat, of course it’s fast, very fast but there isn’t a whole lot of creativity going on.

Thanks to the creative guitar riffing, Dissimulate is an entertaining listen and with song lengths between one and three minutes, no song is long enough to get boring, but of course when it’s over, the next one sounds just like it! Variety may not be Dissimulate’s strong suit but the plus side of an album this monotonous is that you can form your opinion of the entire album based on the first track which is just over one minute long.

Recommended tracks:
Last Mistake
Betrayal
Disregard



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user ratings (89)
3.6
great


Comments:Add a Comment 
somberlain
March 2nd 2011


2134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

really hard for me to explain why I like this album so much

but I do

ButcheredChildren
March 2nd 2011


5590 Comments


last two paragraphs are weak
review begs the question, get to the absolute point and explain it
re-do or edit this review

do not feel discouraged though I attempted reviewing this once as well and failed
it is a hard album to review, I gave it the same rating as well ahaha

BallsToTheWall
March 2nd 2011


51592 Comments


Good band to listen to when im pissed off or needing a T.A.T.U cover.

somberlain
March 2nd 2011


2134 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

get to the absolute point and explain it


what point? and explain what? I said what I thought of the album what else do you want?



@ Balls

one of the most ridiculous covers ever!

lobby
March 2nd 2011


1251 Comments


saw these guys live. should check out some of their stuff someday.

MoosechriS
March 2nd 2011


6353 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Cool review bro, aint listened to these guys in ages. The first album is still my fave although this does kick a fair amount of ass

rasputin
March 2nd 2011


14968 Comments


these guys are one of the big names in why so much of australian metal is awful

DrFeelgoodPhD
March 2nd 2011


8 Comments


Hitler's greatest decisions: 1) Killing the Jews, 2) Killing the Jews, 3) Killing the Jews, 4) Killing the Jews, 5) Killing the Jews

KeithStone582
March 3rd 2011


1524 Comments


That's nice.....

FurSure
March 3rd 2011


1 Comments


This album sounds and tastes like shit.

Hubirus
April 17th 2012


14 Comments


The inserted sound bits are from the documentary "The Killing of America". Goes with the music perfectly, I think.

valtinho
August 6th 2022


36 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

It would be a 5 if they had less sound clips from news or horror movies. Otherwise there are some extremely memorable riffs here.

combustion07
November 22nd 2022


12822 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Forgot how nasty these guys were m///



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