Desultory – Counting our Scars (2011)

Straight from the time capsule today we have Desultory and their latest release (and first in 14 years) “Counting our Scars”. If you are a fan of Swedish Death Metal with Melodic elements, then you should be familiar with this legendary band. If you are not familiar with them, please hit yourself in the back of the head before continue reading this review.

After two very strong releases back in the 90’s, this band had to go down the ‘artsy’ path and destroy their rep with the terrible “Swallow the Snake”. Broken up for years and now finally reformed, the band comes back with a no bullshit attitude and 9 tracks of old-school Swedish Death Metal that will redeem them from their last terrible album.

Opening the release with “Counting our Scars”, you can hear the traditional Swedish vibe and brilliant guitar work from the band. The typical scream vocals are another signature mark of the genre, and the band graciously elevates them with solid musical compositions. The riffing is excellent through the album and while it might incite you to start head banging, it will also make you pay attention and enjoy the melodic sections.

It has been a while since a song made us start bobbing our head and Desultory with the brilliant “This Broken Halo” managed to achieve that. With furious riffs and catchy melodic sections this song will surely be getting tons replays from fans of Death Metal and Melodic Death Metal in general. The real kicker of this release is that while the band stay brutal and things go 100 miles an hour, the melody of the music is very well constructed and maintained in tracks like “Uneven Numbers” and “Leeching Life”.

If you are looking for a great Death Metal release to start the year, look no further and get “Counting our Scars”. We are glad that Desultory has managed to make a very strong comeback and show all the pussies doing MeloDeath/Metalcore music what real Melodic Death Metal music is. If there is one release you shouldn’t miss this January is this one.

Release: January 17th. 2011

Country: Sweden