In 2013, Dream Death issued its sophomore album, Somnium Excessum, twenty-six years after its cult classic debut, Journey into Mystery. In a comparative blink of an eye, album number three, Dissemination, has arrived, proving that Dream Death’s comeback is more than just a nostalgia trip. Dissemination does not benefit from a quarter century of anticipation, nor does it have the same number of new tricks to show off as its predecessor. With Somnium Excessum, Dream Death proved it still had the old magic; with Dissemination, the band must prove it can maintain it.
If Dream Death itself feels any pressure to out-do Somnium Excessum, Dissemination bears no mark of it. Where Somnium was, by Dream Death’s standards, wildly dynamic and compositionally adventurous, Dissemination is grim, spare, and compact, delivering ten tunes in less time than it took Somnium Excessum to deliver six. If Somnium Excessum had an overarching theme, it was one of madness and psychological terror. If Dissemination has an overarching theme, it is that life is short, shitty, and futile. Dissemination is a mean, merciless record. It’s decidedly less fun than its predecessor, but if anything it is even more a Dream Death record.
What strikes me most about Dissemination is how much it sounds like four guys in a room playing music. The recording is polished and professional sounding, and there is nothing sloppy about the performance, but the sound is so pure and unadulterated. There are a few samples and sound effects, and some of the more atmospheric flourishes that surfaced on Somnium Excessum also crop up here, but by and large, these tunes go down like straight whiskey: harsh, but supremely effective.
Another thing that strikes me about Dissemination is that Brian Lawrence sounds really pissed-off. He always sounds pissed-off, but particularly so on this record. Those familiar with Dream Death will know that Lawrence doesn’t really sing, nor does he scream, screech or growl, rather he yells, constantly. Lawrence’s bark is so incessant, so inescapable that Dissemination feels like a forty-minute verbal confrontation, one that the listener is most decidedly losing. Brian is probably a well-adjusted individual, capable of a full range of human emotions, but it’s difficult to imagine him as anything but angry all the time.
The confrontational nature of the vocals is largely mirrored by the album’s music which is, in its own way, relentlessly brutal. This brutality comes not via an onslaught of speed, though the album is not without some hustle, but with a steam-roller-like heft that constantly grinds the listener into the ground. Furthermore, there is an unsettling flow to these songs, full of angular riffs, pauses pregnant with menace and needling jabs of dissonance.
Unfortunately, though Dissemination is heavy as Hell, Richard Freund’s bass, which featured so prominently on the last record, has less of a discernable presence here. The bass is for the most part buried under the guitars, as is so often the case on a metal record. Though Freund’s big warm pulse is missed, its place in the mix is perhaps more in keeping with the stern, no-frills, no-fun tone of the record.
When I say “no-fun,” I mean only the record’s tone. From a riff standpoint, Dissemination is still a head-banging good time, and in some ways is more akin to the band’s debut, particularly with tracks like “Neutral Ground” and “Dominion,” which bring back some of the up-tempo, thrash-metal leanings of the band’s early material.
Though it does not really stray very far from the Dream Death blueprint, Dissemination is a less accessible album than both its predecessors. However, there is a deep well of riffs here and taking the time to explore will ultimately prove quite rewarding.
