Formation and Nuclear Blast era (1988–2002) The band formed in
Stockholm in 1988. After a hiatus, during which several members joined
Carnage, the band began recording in earnest in 1991 and released their debut album
Like an Ever Flowing Stream that year. The album is today heralded as a milestone for the burgeoning
Swedish death metal scene and established the band's fanbase, which was further bolstered by the controversy surrounding one song in particular, "Skin Her Alive". The song prompted an
obscenity charge in the United Kingdom, against which the band successfully defended themselves. In 1992, Dismember released the
Pieces EP, and the following year continued with second album,
Indecent & Obscene, That album was released later in 1997 and ultimately became a sales disappointment. His statements appears as "My decision to put my family in first hand makes it impossible to keep on touring and commit to the band full time. I want to thank all the fans, friends, bands and all the other cool people I've met through the years and I wish Dismember all the best in the future. Fred." In April 2008, they released their eighth album,
Dismember. Dismember released a two-disc DVD titled
Under Blood Red Skies in late July 2009. The live concerts were filmed in the Netherlands and at the 2008 Party San Open Air Festival in Bad Berka, Germany. The DVD also included a documentary and interviews with band members. The cover art was created by Erik Danielsson of Trident Art.
Breakup and reunion (2011–present) On 16 October 2011, bassist Tobias Cristiansson revealed in a statement that Dismember had broken up: "After 23 years, Dismember have now decided to quit. We wish to thank all our fans for your support." On a possible reunion, drummer
Fred Estby told
Invisible Oranges in August 2016: "People were telling me that all the time. So maybe we should try to do some shows and get everything back. We always owned our rights to the albums and shirts, but there's still loose ends to tie up. I just wanted to set the record straight and hopefully do some shows in the future." A reunion was teased in August 2018, with the band posting random photos on their Facebook account. It was later officially announced, on 14 January 2019, that the original lineup of Dismember had reunited and would perform together for the first time in over 20 years at Scandinavia Deathfest that October. In a May 2021 interview MetalBite.com, Estby stated that Dismember might consider releasing their first studio album in over a decade in either 2022 or 2023: "I hope we get out of this situation soon so that we can play some shows and we wanna get more shows going across the globe, a lot of territories that we haven't booked shows for yet and I hope that's gonna happen as soon as this is all over. And maybe we'll have a new record out in a year or two." Estby would later state in 2024 that, although the band has material written for a new album, efforts to complete it have been hindered by the band members now residing in different countries. As of 2026, no new album has been released. In July 2022, the band resigned to
Nuclear Blast Records and started reissuing their back catalog digitally, starting with
Like an Ever Flowing Stream. On August 17, 2024, the band played a
Like an Ever Flowing Stream setlist in
Brooklyn with
Vomitory, Undergang,
Malignancy, and
Morpheus Descends opening. Later that year, the band ruled out the possibility of doing any full-length tours. Etsby said: "We don't do more than two shows in one weekend. If we start touring again, you're gonna start seeing the bad sides of being away from your family and your home and your work, and you can't take off from work. We all have careers that we don't wanna give up. So, that's number one." He also stated that they were interested in keeping live performances limited to prevent the band from becoming a chore for them. == Musical style ==