Desultory - From Beyond the Visions of Death (2006)

This Stockholm, Sweden based band known as Desultory were among one of the earlier Swedish Death Metal bands in the scene when they formed in '89 alongside legends like Nihilist, Grave, Carnage and Interment. From '91 to '92 the band recorded three demos and one EP when shortly thereafter signing a deal with Metal Blade Records and releasing two very sought after releases known as, 'Into Eternity' & 'Bitterness,' both of which are very much out of print and go on eBay for average prices between $30-$50 now.

Unfortunately In '95 the band (like many others) lost the death metal fever and guitarist Stefan Pöge quit while the remaining members went for a alternative rock style, which is apparently comparable to Soundgarden. This one you can buy with spare pocket change on eBay. Desultory called it a career shortly thereafter.

Admittedly I'd never heard of Desultory until reading the Swedish Death Metal Book last year and picking up the three disc compilation, which had the bands song, 'The Chill Within' on it. 'From Beyond the Visions of Death' is the other CD you'll find on eBay for a fairly cheap price and the reason for that is because its actually a bootleg, which gathers together the bands three early demos as well as four live tracks from '91.

The three demos, 'From Beyond,' 'Death Unfolds' and 'Visions' were all recorded in Sunlight Studio with Tomas Skogsberg as producer. Although similarities to Dismember and other Sunlight bands can be found, it seems Desultory's sound did not have the typical Swedish buzzsaw guitar characteristics, the bass guitar is fairly audible on most songs and certain songs also seem to give off a strong epic or even at times sorrowful feeling to them, which honestly reminds me of Amorphis' first record, though these demos pre-date that album. Besides that its fairly straight forward Swedish Death Metal here; heavy catchy pummeling riffs, killer solos, pounding drums and of course low guttural vocals. Surprisingly the production is actually fairly clear on all three of these demos though that's not so much the case with the live tracks, but I doubt anyone is buying this one for the live tracks, anyway.

It's a shame Metal Blade has never re-issued the bands first two albums, but then again I'm sure Brian Slagel would sooner make money releasing horrible music from bands, such as, Six Feet Under, 3, Unearth and Whitechapel.

A few years ago Desultory reformed and just last year they released, 'Counting Our Scars,' which seems to have gained a favorable response, though I haven't gotten my hands on it just yet. In the end though this is some quality material and its just demos, so I can't even began to imagine how awesome those two full-length records are.