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Back in 2004, when the Melodeath wave was at its peak, I really wished for a Death Metal band from the Swedish school to bring back the sound which made the genre big in the early 90s. The only old school band that stayed true to the original sound at that time was Unleashed. It was the perfect timing for Dismember to have a comeback with Where Ironcrosses Grow exactly at that time. They delivered what many fans and myself wished for the most - the raw and undiluted Swedish Death Metal sound. Fast forward to 2008 - Dismember just released their second album since then, ingeniously labelled just Dismember. Usually it's not a good sign for the music when a band runs out of catchy album titles; this case is unfortunately no exception. "Dismember" is pretty much a direct copy of Where Ironcrosses Grow, which by itself was already a rehash of their 1997 album Death Metal. Their output from 2006 was exactly the same as well.

What was welcome back then won't cause so much applause anymore. The disc features the same rumbling, dirty Death Metal assault we've heard the last two times around. It's hard to pinpoint any tracks that stand out, since the songwriting is pretty generic and the whole album shoots by in a huge blur if you don't pay close attention. Noteworthy tracks are only the furious "Legion" and the nicely melodic "Under a Bloodred Sky". Don't get me wrong though - this album is very fun if you love the Swedish type of Death Metal. The only problem is that it has been done better before, especially by Dismember themselves. We can all appreciate some good old school slaying now and then. But if you have to decide between listening to this album and between dusting off Like an Ever Flowing Stream the decision is clearly not in favor of the new one.