Desultory

Bitterness (Metal Blade)
by Paul Lee

Take a handful of crunch-o-mania metal from the ’80s with melodic licks, grind with some death metal and you have Sweden’s Desultory. Somehow, they manage to be relentlessly caustic yet harmonious on their Metal Blade debut, Bitterness. They fuck shit up with grace. Guys like this are more frightening than non-stop death heads.

I would hazard to say that Desultory are distinctive. They incorporate single note licks into their hellish chord grinding. From the first seconds of Bitterness, Desultory are bleak, nasty and could open a chasm in the earth.

With song names like “Bleeding,” “Enslaved,” “Life Shatters,” and “Taste of Tragedy,” you can probably envision the themes of these songs. Another great feature of these guys is that if you don’t want to listen to the lyrics, they’re sung in an almost unintelligible way. For the sickos that dig the negative groove of the lyrics, the sheet is included.

No, Desultory aren’t perfect. A couple of songs start out the same, but overall, there’s enough variety to keep you banging yer cranium into a bloody mass. With a vocalist leaning more toward a hardcore howl, Desultory are one of the best death metal bands around. Dig ’em if ya dare!