Year Of Release - 1994

Label - Metal Blade

1. Life Shatters
2. Left Behind
3. A Closing Eye
4. Taste Of Tragedy
5. Bleeding
6. Among Mortals
7. Enslaved
8. Winter
9. Cold Bitterness 

My first ever paycheck was for 900 Rupees (or about 19 dollars). Of this I spent some of it on two packs of cigarettes, some on a quart of vodka and the rest on Desultory's second album "Bitterness." On "Bitterness" the band deliver everything that they failed to deliver on their debut. Here the band do not just skirt the penalty area, they hammer home nine goals. If "Into Eternity" was an okay debut album but not particularly memorable, then "Bitterness" is a truly great follow up.
 
Right from the opening few seconds on the album, I had the feeling that "Bitterness" was going to be a little bit special. Desultory had found melody in a big way on this album. "Bitterness" has melody and lots of memorable riffs. Opener "Life Shatters" set the tone and tempo for the rest of this album. Klas Morberg's vocals are in top form in this song and in the rest of the album to follow. Stefan Poge and Klas Morberg joined together to create some truly memorable metal music with Hakan Morberg (bass) and Thomas Johnson (drums) holding up their end of the deal.
 
The music itself is mid-paced melodic Death Metal. What makes "Bitterness" so damn good is that every song on this album is memorable. Opener "Life Shatters" will have you humming the riffs and singing the lyrics even when the album is not playing and that is what makes this album so good. The songs stay with you long after you have put away the album.             
 
I have mentioned this before but the guitar duo of Morberg and Poge make this album. Poge especially deserves a special mention for his wonderfully fluid lead playing. The leads never sound forced or seem like a cut and paste job like it does in so many Death Metal albums. The leads and the harmonies come naturally to this music.
 
What happened to this band in-between the release of "Bitterness" and its terrible follow-up, the death 'n roll sounding "Swallow The Snake" is one of the great mysteries of my life.

In a final analyses Desultory's "Bitterness" is a superb example of melodic and catchy Death Metal. It doesn't have the kvlt factor of the debut "Into Eternity" which sells on Ebay for over 25 dollars but is without a doubt the better album of the two.