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.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
Sunmancer - Realms of Dilemma (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
Sunmancer - Lower Cavalier (Official Visualizer)
SUNMANCER
Bosh66· 8 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed