UMUR
"Rehearsal Demo '89" is a rehearsal demo by Swedish death metal act Dismember. The demo was recorded on the 18th of January 1989 and was originally only circulated to friends of the band. It features the same three tracks which appears on the "Last Blasphemies" (1989) demo plus "Deathevokation" from the "Dismembered" (December 1988) demo.
For a rehearsal demo the sound quality is actually pretty well sounding (the vocals are bit too low in the mix but other than that this sounds pretty good to my ears). It´s of course a very raw and unpolished recording, but it´s not the type of release, where it sounds like you´re standing on one side of the door, while the band is playing on the other side. This sound puts you in the middle of the rehearsal room, which is greatly charming and it all feels very authentic and raw. As far as I can hear there´s not bass on this recording, but I may be mistaken. It doesn´t matter that much though as it´s the intensity of the performance and the brutality and extremity of the material which are in focus, and those elements work perfectly here.
Upon conclusion "Rehearsal Demo '89" is definitely worth a listen to fans of seminal late 80s death metal demo recordings, and it shows perfectly why Dismember were counted among the most interesting Swedish death metal bands in those days. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.