Desultory - Counting Our Scars
It seems like the last couple of years was the perfect time for many bands who felt that there's something left to say in terms of music to reunite. The Swedes from Desultory caught up with the reunion wave in 2010 by releasing Counting Scars, their fourth studio album and the first one after 14 years of silence. Their previous record, Swallow the Snake, had quite a negative feedback from fans who felt that the band made a mistake by shifting from their initially raw melodic death metal sound to the more death-and-roll oriented tunes in the sake of Entombed, Corrosion Of Conformity and the likes. After the poorly received album the band decided to split up and carry on under the moniker Zebulon only to reunite almost 15 years later and record a comeback album. So does Counting Our Scars live up to the expectations of fans who have mostly forgotten about Desultory altogether?
In fact, it does live up to expectations of many death metal fans who love good quality music without any modern influences. Right from the album opener In A Cage you get a very good impression of what the music is like on this record, and it's really good. Think of such precursors of melodic death metal as At The Gates and early Cemetery in order to get an idea of what the music is like. It's melodic to a certain degree, yet isn't catchy or cheesy like the later wave of Swedish melo-death. It's heavy and raw, yet without falling into the brutality of typical death metal as we know it today. It doesn't strike you with technicality but every riff is executed perfectly and with the power to make your head bang. Could you ask for more?
The production on this record is just perfect in my opinion. The sound is very raw and heavy, yet not muddy and quite clear to make it sound like a record made in 2010. You can hear the guitars and the distorted bass pretty clear, the drums don't get in your way and the vocals are perfectly mixed on top of all the instruments. Basically, that's the way this band should sound right from the start.
As a result, Counting Our Scars is a perfect comeback album from a band you probably didn't know about. In terms of style, they just skipped their unsuccessful third studio album and carried on in the veins of their first two records, which is probably great news for those nostalgic about early 90's Swedish death metal. But even in 2010 the album sounds pretty nice and to-the-point, giving the metalhead some good music to enjoy listening.
In fact, it does live up to expectations of many death metal fans who love good quality music without any modern influences. Right from the album opener In A Cage you get a very good impression of what the music is like on this record, and it's really good. Think of such precursors of melodic death metal as At The Gates and early Cemetery in order to get an idea of what the music is like. It's melodic to a certain degree, yet isn't catchy or cheesy like the later wave of Swedish melo-death. It's heavy and raw, yet without falling into the brutality of typical death metal as we know it today. It doesn't strike you with technicality but every riff is executed perfectly and with the power to make your head bang. Could you ask for more?
The production on this record is just perfect in my opinion. The sound is very raw and heavy, yet not muddy and quite clear to make it sound like a record made in 2010. You can hear the guitars and the distorted bass pretty clear, the drums don't get in your way and the vocals are perfectly mixed on top of all the instruments. Basically, that's the way this band should sound right from the start.
As a result, Counting Our Scars is a perfect comeback album from a band you probably didn't know about. In terms of style, they just skipped their unsuccessful third studio album and carried on in the veins of their first two records, which is probably great news for those nostalgic about early 90's Swedish death metal. But even in 2010 the album sounds pretty nice and to-the-point, giving the metalhead some good music to enjoy listening.
1. In A Cage
2. Counting Our Scars
3. Ready To Bleed
4. This Broken Halo
5. The Moment Is Gone
6. Uneven Numbers
7. Dead Ends
8. Leeching Life
9. A Crippling Heritage
2. Counting Our Scars
3. Ready To Bleed
4. This Broken Halo
5. The Moment Is Gone
6. Uneven Numbers
7. Dead Ends
8. Leeching Life
9. A Crippling Heritage
