UMUR "Forever Gone" is an EP release by Swedish death metal act Desultory. The EP was released through House of Kicks in November 1992. It´s the band´s first label release and it compiles the material from their second and third demos "Death Unfolds (1991)" and "Visions (1992)". So those who own the demos won´t find anything new here. The material from both demos were professionally recorded at Sunlight Studio with Tomas Skogsberg.

Desultory formed in 1989 and released the "From Beyond" demo in June 1990. The three demos and the "Forever Gone (1992)" EP helped Desultory secure a three-album deal with Metal Blade Records. The band released their debut full-length studio album "Into Eternity" in February 1993. Five out of the six tracks featured on "Forever Gone" appear on "Into Eternity (1993)" in re-recorded versions.

The material from the two demos appear on "Forever Gone" in reverse chronological order with the three tracks from "Visions (1992)" appearing first on the tracklist followed by the three older tracks from the "Death Unfolds (1991)" demo. While the older tracks are slightly more raw and likewise the sound production, "Forever Gone" is actually a very consistent release both in terms of sound and quality. And we are dealing with a release of a high quality. Desultory play a melodic old school Swedish death metal style, that was quite unique for the time. In some ways and especially in terms of the dark and melancholic atmosphere of their music, they had more in common with contemporary Paradise Lost and Amorphis, than they had to fellow Swedish acts like Entombed and Dismember, although Desultory had a little of both worlds in their music and predominantly play faster and more energetic death metal than the two former mentioned acts.

"Forever Gone" shows a band who had already moved way past the demo stage while they were still recording and releasing demo material. It seems almost unreal to me, that the materal featured on "Forever Gone" are demo material as all tracks feature a professional studio recording quality and the idea to compile the material from the two demos on "Forever Gone" was definitely a smart move. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.