Parasitic/Armageddon 

Throwing crust into metal sure isn't new, but it never gets old. Dishammer, from Spain, mix some violent thrash with some fueled-by-hate crust and have been doing so for 4 years now. Under the Sign of the D-Beat Mark is their latest EP and, like their previous releases, sounds like Discharge met Venom, Hellhammer, and Bathory in an alley after a rape convention and fucked and became impregnated with the Satanic seed of heavy metal, as the semen from each of those three bands somehow combined to form supersemen to combine with Discharge's crusty egg to create a disgusting breed of something wretched. While pregnant, Discharge then walked around for a few months drinking plenty of liquor and getting into fights, toughening its growing baby inside with many kicks to the stomach and more than a few smashed bottles over the flesh, so that it would come straight out of the womb fighting. That's exactly what happened, as noted in important history books. Dishammer is the name of this spawn, and I won't bother to tell you about how it grew up.

Under the Sign of the D-Beat Mark is full of short, killer crust-metal tunes that are pure energy and wrath. While the musical options involved in the marriage of crust and metal may not be extremely versatile and expansive, no two songs sound terribly similar or formulaic, though they are simple enough to get right to the point. The point is speed/pain/blood - repeat. As a short EP, Dishammer have made sure the sound doesn't wear out its welcome.

If you've heard their debut album, Vintage Addiction, not much has changed. The songwriting doesn't prevail as much here as it did on the album, though, and could have used some of the more memorable and, dare I say, "fun", catchy, thrashing riffs and unstoppable chaos the full length was so full of. Not to say this one doesn't have its wrathful, rampaging and violent moments of excellence, but it does seem as though slightly less effort and thought was put into composing these songs. While with Vintage Addiction the songs left the listener thinking "yes, they got right to the point and really killed it and moved on to kill something else," Under the Sign... similarly seems to go toward a brief point of victory, but afterward one is never quite sure at what moment it was reached. This sounds a little vague and cryptic, I know. There is less substantially different between the two releases than I make it out to be, but these differences do exist and need to be reported on by Gravemusic writers. The EP could afford to have more aggressive speed, as Dishammer don't do mid-paced crust or metal entirely effectively. Dynamics this does create, but atmosphere or chaos it does not assist. It instead becomes a sort of middle ground where no extremes prevail, and instead of providing a contrast for the high points, exists as moments of being "just there" for seemingly no purpose.

The EP is still pretty ball-smashing in many ways, considering the true moments of thrashing, blackened aggression and pure energy, and should be equally consumed by both metalheads and punks. While they're both consuming it, maybe they'll meet in the middle of one of the longer noodles and share a friendly kiss on the lips. The metalheads will say "that was gay, get your punk out of my metal, you crusty little shit," while the punks will say "that remark was totally homophobic, get your metal out of my punk, you dimwitted shithead." 

They're both wrong. Dishammer is a band, not a food. Fans are stupid. 

Warning: You will hear d-beats on this EP.

1. The Devil's Advocates

2. Outlaw Psychopath

3. Welcome Death

4. Under the Sign of the D-Beat Mark

5. Sexwitch

6. Invocation

7. Rusty Coffin

7.4/10