SilentScream213 A very difficult album for me to rate, as Death Doom is perhaps my absolute favorite genre, and Disembowelment’s first and only album is considered by the some the greatest Death Doom album of all time. It was certainly the first album to have hints of Funeral Doom and would end up becoming influential in that scene, and has a ton of straight Death Metal compared to most Death Doom.

The cooler parts of this album are definitely the way it uses clean, reverbed guitar notes to create melodic atmosphere, but this is only done occasionally. The variety in drumming is also very nice, with everything from Funeral Doom plodding to full Death Metal blastbeats. So, wherein lies the problem for me?

Death Doom was still very primitive in the early 90’s, and Transcendence into the Peripheral is no different. It is extremely basic both in style and execution. The riffs, if you can call them that, are very monotone and minimalistic. That’s not uncommon for Doom, but the way minimalistic riffing works is by creating and relying on strong atmosphere to carry the song. Disembowelment completely falls flat in this regard.

Outside of a few moments with cool backing vocals and reverby clean instruments, there is really no mood created at all, and therein the atmosphere is empty and boring. The songs have no emotion, even the lyrics are spiritual and abstract ramblings that carry no weight. They talk about death and darkness sometimes, but it’s in a Death Metal ad lib sense, none of the beautiful, moving poetry that is so prevalent in the Doom genre. The vocals are another totally monotone aspect of the release, really providing nothing but some extra bass as they’re totally indecipherable without a lyric sheet, with very little variety or expression.

Disembowelment is oppressive, if anything. The music is heavy as hell, challenging, and I will say, unique for it’s time. In addition, it was influential. But to call this the greatest Death Doom album to me is incredibly sad, because the genre grew and expanded so much throughout the years. Where this album is lethargic and devoid of emotion, Death Doom later churned out much of the most passionate and moving music I have ever heard. Where this has little melody or atmosphere, later bands made those qualities a staple in extreme Doom music and use them to great success. Disembowelment represents the genre before it found it’s identity, and evidently, before it became something I love.

Warthur It's always a bit of a shame when a band puts out a single album and then dissipates without trace - but when that one album is as solid a piece as dISEMBOWELMENT's Transcendence Into the Peripheral, maybe it makes sense. The Australians clearly only needed one album to make their point: this showcase of their particular take on the death/doom style, with dark ambient elements gently incorporated, offers a solid hour of entertaining death/doom which is long enough to allow them to explore their sound fully and short enough not to outlast its welcome - much like their career. Whether taken in by itself or as part of their self-titled whole-career compilation, this is an excellent listen for anyone keen on the early 1990s death/doom sound.

UMUR "Transcendence Into the Peripheral" is the debut full-length studio album by Australian doom/death metal act Disembowelment. The album was released through Relapse Records in the US and through Nuclear Blast Records in Europe in September 1993. Disembowelment were a relatively shortlived act and only released this one album (and a couple of minor releases) before disbanding.

The music on the album is slow, brutal yet atmospheric doom/death with the occasional deathgrinding section thrown in. Several members of the band played with a grindcore act called Bacteria before they formed Disembowelment, so I guess the grindcore influence came from those days. For the time "Transcendence Into the Peripheral" was a very original sounding release and it´s obvious why so many artists have since mentioned Disembowelment as an influence on their music. Most doom metal from those days were either traditional sounding doom metal or melancholic themed doom/death metal. The music on "Transcendence Into the Peripheral" is a different kind of beast. It´s extremely slow doom/death (funeral doom) with a bleak atmosphere and mystic themed lyrics. The growling vocals are brutal and purposedly almost completely unintelligible. There are a few clean chanting type vocals on the album too and some female talking on the atmospheric "Nightside of Eden", but the vocals on the album are predominantly growling.

The combination of old school death metal riffing, deathgrinding blast beats and ultra slow doom metal riffing paired with atmospheric lead guitars and clean guitar chords work wonders and create a dark and mystical atmosphere. Even today I´d call this original sounding. The fact that the tracks feature semi-progressive structures doesn´t make the listening experience any less intriguing. This is the kind of album that you can listen to over and over again and still find new details to discover. The whole thing is packed in a dark, raw, and brutal sound production that suits the music perfectly.

"Transcendence Into the Peripheral" is probably one of the most original sounding doom/death metal releases out there. Especially if you consider the time it was released. It´s groundbreaking and very influential too and a 4.5 (90%) rating is fully deserved.