Dissenter - Promo 1999

DISSENTER - Promo 1999

Hey, I just made another discovery in my old box, where I keep a lot of promo CDs and other stuff, which I was getting through all the years of zine making. I found there and exhumed the old Dissenter promo from 1999! Damn, I completely forgot to have this one and honestly, I can’t even remember when and who I got it from. Who cares, it doesn’t matter. It’s just cool to have something like that. I was afraid if it still gonna play, as it’s a CDR, but despite being 16 years old, it still plays great, so awesome news. The promo is actually something what the band has released before the debut album “Bloodlust and Blasphemy”.

And let me remind you that there was first a band called Bloodlust, which had some really killer releases and then they changed the name over to Dissenter. After two demo tapes, “Bloodlust and Blasphemy” album was self-released in 2000. That’s the story. And in 1999 this promo was released to search for the label. I actually have no idea if the versions of these songs are exactly the same as from the album – probably they are – but I am quite surprised that Dissenter ended up releasing “Bloodlust and Blasphemy” by themselves. This is great, brutal death metal and it just sounds good enough to be featured on the roster of any respected death metal label. Why they haven’t succeeded, I don’t know.

The music is sick, violent, aggressive and ferocious, it’s really fast, with many blasting parts, quite technical, but still within that old school American style. I suppose you would be OK to compare it to such bands as Morbid Angel, Vital Remains, Deicide, Angelcorpse, Krisiun, Luciferion, Hate, Lost Soul and so on. Nothing specifically groundbreaking, but very solid and worthy for sure. I guess the production is something what begs for little bit more density and power, especially the guitars are not crushing and heavy enough. The music may also feel like slightly messy, almost chaotic in places, but what the hell… this is underground death metal, not another Relapse fancy, modern crap. Dissenter were always among the best Polish death metal bands and that was a great start for them. Nowadays I still enjoy the debut album and this Promo 1999 is also a good listen and surely a nice discovery in my collection.