I guess you could call Silencer's first and only record the "De Mysteriis Dom Sathanas" of the "DSBM" scene - an initialism representing depressive/suicidal black metal (of all things...I know) - because it is frequently hailed a masterpiece among a strong circle of black metal fans due to the band's laughably-frenzied biography and musical direction, bluntly speaking. For a general prerequisite, I think most depressive black metal is like contracting syphilis from a cactus, and the general hype around Silencer being "totally sinister and insane" a preposterous reason to become epileptic and randomly s*** and piss everywhere like you've reached some spiritual bliss. "Death-Pierce Me" is not a horrible release, but it certainly overloads from a multitude of hindering qualities: good riffs are beaten into the ground for way too long, there isn't much variation, and the record itself is systemically banal at heart. Listening to this makes me realize the world is very depressing, because "Death-Pierce Me" remains typically one-dimensional and yields nothing of interest beyond a few moments of mundane amusement despite piles and piles of false hype.As for mundane amusement, Silencer has a keen ability to actually stamp strong riffs, apply decent instrumentation, and produce an ambience that will keep you awake unlike other depressive/suicidal black metal groups. The record itself is quite atmospheric, yet the overall sound is sharp at helm: nimble tremolo riffs, smashing percussion with a lot of speed, and flexing bass lines make up the witch's brew. While Silencer's formula isn't harmful at bay, the band just becomes abnormally predictable beyond any sense of rejuvenation. The record itself contains just six tracks running for fifty minutes in totality, with an identical formula applied to each major track that causes Silencer's decent sections to erode away by the second or third listen. Once this settled in, "Death-Pierce Me" was as good as done in my book.
Not much really happens outside of the ten-minute songs that have a few separate sections and end up cycling around endlessly besides a keyboard introduction here and there. I guess a lot of this stuff is just...there. I don't get any emotional response or feel sad (is that the point?) or whatever; it's just a boring CD. And yea, the vocals are disturbing and maniacal, and probably the finest part of Silencer's algorithm: Nattramn's voice jumps from a deafening, painful shriek to a strangling whimper of some sort, that, in a bizarre way, gives Silencer brief and swift justice to these songs and makes the record at least listenable when everything else is quickly blacking out. Would Silencer's legacy remain this revolutionary and enormous had it not been for Nattramn's vocals? "I'll take it to the lab for further analysis," a wise man once said.
I'd be lying if I said all of "Death-Pierce Me" is bland: "Sterile Nails and Thunderbowels" contains some excellent riffs and instrumental sections, whereas the title track, although a bit too long, does a lot better than the other two-thirds of "Death-Pierce Me." The concluding "Feeble are You - Sons of Sion" is actually a pretty cool way to shut down "Death-Pierce Me," but when an instrumental piano-track emits more content than three songs that take up half of the record's material, things are bound to get a bit burnt when the meat hits the grill, so to speak. All in all, the rumors about Silencer's biography are much more entertaining than Silencer's music. You can talk about those "tortured moans of depressive agony" all you want, but that doesn't change the hard truth: "Death-Pierce Me" is a lackluster effort with nothing but hype and boring formulas within its walls.