DESULTORY — Bitterness (review)

DESULTORY — Bitterness album cover Album · 1994 · Melodic Death Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
UMUR
"Bitterness" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swedish death metal act Desultory. The album was released through Metal Blade Records in June 1994 (the second album in a three album deal with the label). It´s the successor to "Into Eternity" from 1993.

Stylistically the material on "Bitterness" continue the melodic old school Swedish death metal style of "Into Eternity (1993)", but Desultory have not stagnated and released a clone of their debut album by any means. They have instead embraced a little of the death´n´roll tendencies of other contemporary Scandinavian artists/releases (artists like Furbowl, Cemetary, and Sentenced), although they don´t go overboard with those elements on this release. Let´s call it a spice on "Bitterness". Lead vocalist/guitarist Klas Morberg has changed his singing style quite a bit from his earlier aggressive growling to a shouting semi-growling vocal style (not completely different from the vocal style of Johan Liiva of Arch Enemy/Furbowl/Hearse). He changes his vocals a bit during the album though, and he has a more growling type vocal delivery on some tracks and the before mentioned shouting type delivery on other tracks. The foundation of the tracks are heavy riffs, soaring melodic leads and solos, a tight and organic sounding rhythm section, and the above mentioned vocals. While every member of the band contributes greatly to the sound of the album, it´s the many melodic leads, harmonies, and solos which to my ears stand out the most. The well composed and intriguing guitar melodies, should not only appeal to fans of melodic tinged death metal but also fans of traditional heavy metal/heavy rock.

"Bitterness" features a powerful, heavy, and detailed sound production, which suits the material perfectly. Desultory are also a very well playing band, and upon conclusion "Bitterness" is through and through a high quality death metal release. While "Into Eternity (1993)" certainly is a very strong album too, I still think "Bitterness" is just a notch more interesting, which is in large part due to it being more varied. I enjoy how they manage to incorporate traditional heavy metal/heavy rock and hard rock elements to their sound, but the outcome is still brutal and heavy enough to the called death metal. Or maybe the right description would be that they hit the right balance between their death metal roots and the new influences. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.
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