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Sunday, June 8, 2008

Desultory - Into Eternity (1993)



1. Into Eternity
2. Depression
3. Tears
4. The Chill Within
5. Visions
6. Twisted Emotions
7. Forever Gone
8. Passed Away
9. Asleep


Origin - Sweden
Genre - Death Metal


" Not long after Entombed and Dismember ignited a Swedish Death Metal explosion with their debut releases...Every other band in sweden tried to copy the same style, Most failed...a few not only succeeded but had their own direction on the new music. One such band is Desultory, who released its debut album on Metal Blade in 1993, Into Eternity "


" Much like nearly every Death Metal band from Sweden at this time, Into Eternity was produced and engineered by Tomas Skogsberg at Studio Sunlight, which is a fact very evident as soon as the music begins. It just has that famous Swedish sound. Within the album opening title track, it's clear to see what this band excels in, as they perform typical Swedish Death Metal with technical musicianship, maintaining the aggressiveness while injecting a strong dose of melody and atmosphere. Judging from the technical aspect of the song structures, Desultory seem to have drawn inspiration from Entombed's second album, Clandestine, rather than Left Hand Path. The vocals of guitarist Klas Morberg are suitably gutteral, yet his pronunciation of the lyrics is very clear, making it a bit easier to understand what he's saying than is usually the case with this style of music. Also unlike the majority of Death metal bands, Desultory's lyrics offer much more in terms of depth and substance, dealing with the mystery of the meaning to existence, emotional turmoil and the state of dreaming instead of the usual themes of blood and guts...(with the exception of "Passed Away", which is the most aggressive song on the album and deals with the process of dying and eventual bodily decay). The lead guitar work of Stefan Poge is impressive, as he colors these songs with some nice solo work. However it is the performance of drummer Thomas Johnson that is the most impressive. This guy is amazing and certainly one of the most underrated drummers in the Metal scene. A very technical player, he spices these songs up with some great fills and never gets caught up playing the same pattern within the same song. It's his performance here that takes this album to a higher level. Highlights for me are the title track, with its atmospheric mid section, "Depression" (featuring guest vocals by Dismember's own Matti Karki), "Tears", "Forever Gone" (which has an intro that I'm willing to bet was very influenced by the intro to Dismember's "Dismembered") and "Asleep" which closes the album and drifts off into a void that brings the image of the astral photograph that is the album's cover to mind "



Into Eternity is certainly one of the most underrated Death Metal albums of all time and if you are a Swedish Death Metal fan, this will most definitely not disappoint !



Death Unfolds Again !.............Get It!

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