UMUR "Counting Our Scars" is the 4th full-length studio album by melodic Swedish death metal act Desultory. The album was released through Pulverised Records in November 2010. "Counting Our Scars" is a comeback album for the band who released their last album "Swallow the Snake" in 1996. Desultory formed in 1989 and were pretty active in the early and mid-90s releasing three studio albums in the years between 1993 and 1996. After their three-album deal with Metal Blade Records was fullfilled with the release of "Swallow the Snake (1996)", Desultory disbanded/changed their name to Zebulon, recording two studio albums during their active period under that monicker from 1997 to 2008. In 2009 the members of Zebulon changed the band name back to Desultory.

So the big question here is which style of music Desultory have opted to play on "Counting Our Scars", because while they started out playing a melodic old school Swedish death metal style, they changed their style significantly on "Swallow the Snake (1996)", which features a raw heavy rock/metal/death´n´roll style, which is pretty far removed from the sound on their early releases, and the Zebulon albums pretty much continued down that road. Since the lineup on "Counting Our Scars" consists of all four members of Zebulon, it would be natural to think that the "new" Desultory would continue playing heavy rock/metal/death´n´roll, but I guess the name change was meant to signal something, because the music style on "Counting Our Scars" is melodic death metal. It features a more contemporary and at times more thrashy and groove laden sound, but it´s audible that this is the same band who released both "Into Eternity (1993)" and "Bitterness (1994)".

The tracks are all well written, well performed, and well produced, and therefore it´s no surprise that the final outcome sounds very professional. So upon conclusion "Counting Our Scars" is a good quality melodic death metal album and a welcome comeback from Desultory. While it doesn´t quite reach the magic of the early releases, it´s still a strong release by the band and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is fully deserved.

Time Signature Ready to rock...

Genre: death metal

You know, Sweden are known as the country of melodic death metal, but prior to that, Sweden harbored a very different, much less polished type of death metal. Desultory play old school Swedish death metal, and, being the first album by the band in five years, counting our scars is a comeback of sorts - and a good comeback, too.

The productions is more crisp than with the original Swedish death metal acts, and Desultory also appeal more to melody... without it being melodeath, but add the melodic dimension through melodic lead guitars primarily.

True to tradition, there are plenty of thrash elements, and perhaps Desultory is best described as a death-thrash act, although the do make use of blastbeats and typical death metal riffage as well.

I think this is a very good album, and it is reassuring to know that the Swedes are still able to make old school Swedish death metal.