Well, for the follow-up, Iron Flesh continues the same sound going full-on Dismember homage with 48 minutes and 10 songs of hacking melodic death metal with an HM2 buzz and some slower-loping songs that basically cull from the entirety of Dismember’s catalog notably the albums from Death Metal forwards.

“Overthrow ov the Sermon ov God” (“Override of the Overture” anyone ?) gets things going with a rip-roaring track of energetic leads and time changes. Then we get “Cursed Within”, a slower stomping track that recalls “Let the Napalm Rain” or the groovier tracks like “Casket Garden” from the divisive Massive Killing Capacity album. 

And that’s pretty much the rest of the album summed up in two killer tracks. I mean just listen to “In Agony You Must Reborn”, “To Become One with the Dead”, the title track or certainly “As Ghouls March On”. Pure Dismember worship circa Hate Campaign or Where Iron Crosses Grow, that recalls everything from “Questionable Ethics” to “Like Fire” and “Patrol 17”. Even down to Julien Helwin’s Matte Karki-like bark and the razor-sharp guitar tone the delivers subtle somber but melodic riffs and leads throughout.

And whereas the prior album had some sickly, slow tunes like “Death and the Reaper’s Scythe”, “Demonic Urn”, on Limb After Limb we get the likes of “Blessed Be the Creators”, with its solemn lead work, “Honour In Death” and closing instrumental  “A Procession of Living Cadavers” with its haunting opening cello.

Another solid entry in the genre, that makes no bones about its influence and is up there with Necrom, Carnal Ruin, Ripped to Shreds, Katakomba, In Pain, Entrails, Demonical, and such for the year’s best in the genre.

If you are a fan of the genre, you probably already have this or are already headed of to your marketplace of choice to purchase this LP or the CD version. And rightfully so, these guys have delivered a superb effort that delivers all the expected classic Swedish influences, mostly early Entombed and Dismember even more so, but also makes it their own with some cool, doomy, somber, moodier segments and songs.

Opening with the raucous gallop of “Servants of Oblivion”,  every box is filled for genre-philes; thick buzzing guitars,  gruff vocals, cantering riffs and oozing grooves.  And while there is oodles of Entombed/Dismember homage, high energy,  like the aforementioned opener, “Relinquished Flesh”, the melodic strains of ” Purify Through Blasphemy”, “Incursion of Evil”, and “Thy Power Infinite” (all three,  pure, more melodic Dismember worship songs), where the band shines are the slower, more lumbering songs like the crushing “Demonic Enn”, “Cursed Beyond Death”, standout, 8 minute, “Death and the Reaper’s Scythe” and pure doom closer “Convicted Faith”, where the killer guitar tone is allowed to writhe and slither with sickly menace.

Though there are no different tracks or artwork for this LP version, for collectors, there are two variants of the LP, a regular black one and a limited, cool icky yellow/greenish version which matches the album artwork perfectly. That’s the one I’ll be grabbing.

In a first half of the year that has seen solid releases in this style from The Plague, Eye of Purgatory, Endseeker, The Generals, Devoured,  and such, this stands as one of the better ones and would have been so last year also. Let’s see what Entrails and Abscession can bring to the table later this year to compete….