Desultory

By Júlio Valada on Feb 22, 2011 in Cd Review | 0 comments

Album: Counting Our Scars
Label: Pulverised Records
Tracks: 9
Release Date: January 17th
Lenght: 41′ 41″

Riff Score: 7.5/10

Given the recent increase of popularity that old school genres have been garnering, be it thrash or death metal, a lot of bands are coming back from long hiatus and releasing new albums. This is the case with Desultory, a band known for their early nineties output, who have put out their new album 14 years after the last one.

I must admit that although I’m aware of Desultory’s earlier efforts I’ve never cared much about them, or at least I’ve never felt really compelled to go on and hear them. What history tells us is that they had two good albums and a horrible third effort, which saw them dwelling into more rock ‘n’ rollish rhythms and garnered them a lot of criticism. So when they come back after 14 years with a new album questions arise. The immediate one is “Is it the same tripe as their previous effort?”, and the answer couldn’t be clearer. Hell no! This is a comeback in the true sense of the word as Desultory bring back their furious death metal infused with lots of melody.

Now speaking about melody, this isn’t your Gothenburg melodeath band. No sir, this is a death metal band with a great amount of aggression and whiplash-inducing songs, only refined with some very melodic riffing. Nonetheless it’s clear that the band has been influenced by the Gothenburg scene of the early nineties. I can hear some At The Gates worship and sometimes even early In Flames comes to mind, but the emphasis is clearly on the death metal part of the songs.

“In A Cage” starts the hostilities with a small intro that immediately goes into a rampaging rhythm with drums pounding in the good old D-beat style that Swedish death metal has adopted. There’s also some minor use of blast beats in the song that provide for some tempo changes. The lead work is very good, showcasing perfectly the use of melody that Desultory employs. Melody is used to give a sense of atmosphere and beauty to the music, to make it contrast with the aggression that’s present. The solo at the end of the song is noteworthy for its melancholic feel. A solid opener no doubt! The title track follows and the same formula is applied, with one guitar firmly enrooted in the Stockholm sound and other on the Gothenburg melodies and the occasional blast beat. In fact this formulaic songwriting is pretty much present throughout the entire album, as all the songs follow the same pattern.

There are some very cool riffs in “This Broken Halo”, which features some of the best melodies in the album, contrasting with the relentless drumming that has some good fills and great use of cymbals. This is easily one of the highlights of the album. Another one would be “The Moment Is Gone”, one of the most melancholic tracks here with its main riff straight out of “The Jester Race”, which provides for a good relaxing point in the album and gives it a more varied feel. The middle section is very good with great drum and guitar work, eventually unleashing an amazing solo. After that all hell breaks loose again as the furious onslaught of Swedish death metal continues with the shortest and fastest track here, “Uneven Numbers”. Full of energetic riffing and always full speed ahead, it has a good groove in its middle section where it slows down to a repeating riff, before it unleashes its full aggression again.

One thing has to be said about the vocal skills of Klas Morberg as he doesn’t have a full-on death metal growl. He has more of a throaty rasp that’s not so different from Leif Jensen of Dew-Scented or even L.G. Petrov of Entombed, although it’s more similar to Leif’s in tone. Yet it goes very well with music and in a sense departs a bit from the typical formula of death metal growls, giving it a lighter feeling that combines with all the melody present here. The production job is good although the bass is a bit buried, almost never showing itself. The guitar sound was well achieved, and the drum production seems to be top notch with a clear sound from the cymbals and snare.

All in all a good album and a decent return from a band everyone thought to be dead and buried, proving that they’re still alive and capable of writing good material. This album is a sort of bridge between the Stockholm and Gothenburg styles (which are the biggest and most longing in Sweden), with its typical death metal sound that’s caressed by melodies, providing for something that isn’t neither another old-school album nor another cheesy melodeath album. Although this album is good and ultimately achieves its goal of bringing Desultory into the 21st century, it does sound a bit dated at times as this was all made before. Even so it’s a good album, better than mostly everything the Gothenburg scene has been putting out recently, and with enough aggression to please fans of the old-school Swedish sound.

By: Júlio Valada