| CD REVIEW Desultory |
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Band: Desultory The revival of the Swedish old school Death Metal-scene (even though this specific sub-genre did never disappear at all) has three directions. (1) You have those bands that are active since the early years, still doing what they did back then; (2) there are lots of new bands (often with musicians that were active during the early years) that sort of pay tribute to the old scene; and (3) the reformations of oldies. When it comes to this band, Desultory, it is all about the third option. As a matter of fact, Desultory (the Swedish one – during the early nineties, there was a so-called Thrash band from the Netherlands too) were a highly influential band within the Stockholm-scene (along with, for example, Morbid and Mefisto). The band was formed at the end of the eighties, and during the first half of the nineties, Desultory were pretty important. The three demos, recorded in 1990 and 1991, were positively received worldwide – personally I did like them a lot; 1991’s Visions was one of my favourite demos that very same year – and the ’91-EP Forever Gone offered the band a deal with Metal Blade. Bitterness, Into Eternity, it showed a mature band over and over again.
[note: Into Eternity and Bitterness will be re-released soon, including bonus material and a re-mastering by Dan Swanö]
And suddenly: silence. Desultory were no more. Until now. Desultory returned. Back to the roots. As a matter of fact, three of the four members continued, after the split-up, under the name of Zebulon, playing a form of (Heavy) Metal in the vein of their last (and worse) album, Swallow The Snake (the one and only mistake the band ever did record). No further comment about this error. The band entered the splendid Death/ Black-specialised studio Necromorbus (Merrimack, Withershin, Ofermod, Vanmakt, Vemoth) with Tore Stjerna (production, mix, mastering and engineering) and they signed a contract with the sublime Singaporean label Pulverised. It brings us to the release of the first Desultory full length studio recording in fourteen years.
And it sounds as if the band never went on hiatus. This stuff just goes on in the same vein of the early years: furious and mean, yet melodic and somewhat catching Old School Death Metal with the purest Swedish approach. Yes, this brings back melancholic memories…
No, seriously, this material is as heavy and brutal as it was in the past. It stands miles away from Zebulon or Swallow The Snake. The magic between the members appeals as ever-lasting, the song writing has grown within its positively-evolving definition, and the individual performances lift up the quality of the total co-operation. The melodies are both soaring and haunting, fresh yet stenchy, and the tempo mainly varies between slow and mid-speed. Evidently, a few times this album sort of blasts, but it isn’t lightning speed that forms the skeleton – it must be power and energy.
Recommended to fans of, well, what do you think about early material from, for example, At The Gates, Cemetery, Cromlech, Dissection or Eucharist?...! Conclusion: in spite of an overload on reformations all over the Death Metal Worlds, this one is one of the most interesting, surprising and convincing ones! Smart thinking, pulverising crew, by signing this horde… 85/100 Ivan Tibos. |
