Absorbing the Disarray

Visceral Bleeding is an interesting footnote in Swedish tech-death history. For a bit there in the early 2000s they seemed prime to reach Spawn of Possession-level heights, but then they fell off the map a bit - as a direct result of Spawn of Possession’s increased quality, ironically enough. Transcend Into Ferocity is a hidden gem in the soup of early ‘00s brutality, and arguably features Dennis Rondum’s best vocal performance ever, so the fact that this element is missing from Absorbing the Disarray does lower the bar on this a little bit. It’s not Martin Pedersen’s fault, really, he does his best to put his own spin on the same choppy grunting style and even matches Rondum’s crazy speed at times, but Perdersen only reaches those lofty heights for brief moments and has to take breaks whereas Rondum can fit a crazy amount of syllables into a verse and still be catchy and somehow not overwhelming. It’s unfortunate that this album has some crazy big standards to live up to, being both the follow-up to an amazing album and existing in the shadows of a monumental tech-death band that poached their most talented members. The odds were kind of stacked against Visceral Bleeding, and ultimately they haven’t seemed to put together a consistent lineup since this, but even then I’m surprised they don’t get talked about more.

If you don’t like Spawn of Possession, stop reading now, because even without sharing any mutual members on Absorbing the Disarray, Visceral Bleeding are very much in the same vein. The jumpy, active chug style during the verses is near-identical in execution, and even the way the drumming and some of the sudden unorthodox riff changes are structured has a similar flow. I guess this is just how Swedish tech death sounds. In comparison to previous albums by the band, the production on this album is much more dry, which cleans things up a bit and gives off a very mechanical, soulless atmosphere. Not to say this lacks passion, in fact if anything this has a lot more anger than most tech-death. Among bands of their ilk, Visceral Bleeding are probably the grooviest and chunkiest, but the constantly moving riffs, inhumanly precise drumming and proto-Archspire bark rapping gives everything a very…non-empathetic feel. Like a robot dissecting you with carefully calculated movements.

Absorbing the Disarray has its own identity, but unfortunately its identity is just…not really as appealing as Visceral Bleeding’s other two albums. Remnants of Deprivation is the charming, primitive debut that serves as an interesting listen as it’s basically a Swedish tech-death embryo. Transcend Into Ferocity is the punishing, wet, catchy album that is a mandatory listen for anyone who thinks that Spawn of Possession should wank less. Absorbing the Disarray is the a clinical refinement of their style and execution, and while monumentally tight and filled with interesting riffing, vocal work and drum patterns, it just isn’t anywhere near as fun to listen to as their other stuff. While Visceral Bleeding may get overlooked a little bit on the whole it doesn’t really surprise me that Absorbing Into Disarray gets forgotten about. Check it out if you’re a completionist, but I can almost guarantee it won’t be your favorite.