DESULTORY — Swallow the Snake (review)

DESULTORY — Swallow the Snake album cover

Album · 1996 · Death 'n' Roll

3/5 · 2023-03-10
UMUR

"Swallow the Snake" is the 3rd full-length studio album by Swedish death metal/death´n´roll act Desultory. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in October 1996 (the third album in a three album deal with the label). It´s the successor to "Bitterness" from 1994. A major lineup change has taken place since "Bitterness (1994)" as lead guitarist Stefan Pöge has jumped ship. Desultory opted to continue as a three-piece, and bassist Håkan Morberg has taken on the lead guitar duties on "Swallow the Snake" in addition to his role as bassist.

Using the words "major lineup change" when only one out of four members has left is justified because of the significance of Pöge´s lead guitar playing on the first two albums by Desultory and how much his departure meant for how "Swallow the Snake" turned out. Desultory already started incorporating traditional heavy metal/heavy rock elements to their sound on "Bitterness (1994)", which placed that album somewhere between a melodic old school death metal sound and a death´n´roll sound, but with an emphasis on the former. The scale has shifted on "Swallow the Snake" though which is through and through a death´n´roll album. Although the music still features occasional melodic leads, they are not nearly as interesting as the melancholic soaring leads and harmonies Desultory played on the first two albums. So Pöge´s exit from the band has definitely had a significant impact. The music now features a groove laden heavy rock/death´n´roll sound, which is pretty far removed from the melodic tinged death metal of the band´s previous releases. If anyone thought "Swansong (1996)" was a step too far down the death´n´roll path for Carcass, this is a similar situation, but with the difference that "Swallow the Snake" could have been recorded by a completely different act, as there is next to nothing on the album which links it to Desultory´s past.

Heavy groove laden hard/heavy rock riffs, blues rock influenced leads, a hard rocking rhythm sections, and lead vocalist/guitarist Klas Morberg raw shouting vocals on top. The vocals may be aggressive and angry, but there is not a single growling vocal part on the album, and labelling this album death´n´roll is maybe a bit of a stretch. Raw heavy rock/metal is probably a better description. "Swallow the Snake" features a raw and organic sounding production, which suits the rawness of the music well, and upon conclusion "Swallow the Snake" is a decent quality release. If the songs had stood out a bit more and had been memorable beyond the album´s playing time, it would have been a completely different situation though. "Beneath" is one of the standout tracks on the album featuring a dark goth rock atmosphere and deep register vocals, but the remaining tracks simply sound too much the same. It´s nothing out of the ordinary for the style and compared to what came before, it´s a huge disappointment. Desultory disbanded shortly after the release of the album, but continued as Zebulon in the period 1997 - 2008, releasing two studio albums under the Zebulon monicker before changing the band name back to Desultory in 2009. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.