(TheMadIsraeli reviews the debut album by Witherscape, the highly anticipated joint effort of Dan Swanö and Ragnar Widerberg, which hits the streets today via Century Media.)
Without a doubt, the Swedish have an innate ear for metal of the melodic sort. The Gothenburg scene, the forming of formidable death metal titans such as Bloodbath, Hypocrisy, and Grave, who retained a distinctly more melodic bent than many of their contemporaries, the proggy labyrinth-crafters like Opeth and In Mourning — all are testament upon testament to what can truly be called Swedish excellence. When you tell people in a metal context that the music is Swedish, people tend to know exactly what you mean. It’s melodic, yet retains a darkness and ferocity in a combination that’s distinctive.
If there were ever a single figure who sits on the throne of the Swedish pantheon, as the prime example of what I’m trying to describe, Dan Swanö is the man. His musical endeavors, whether it be the groundbreaking Edge Of Sanity, his work in Bloodbath and Nightingale, his Moontower solo album, his influence has been staggeringly overpowering. He has consistently produced music that is stellar, always at the top of its respective field.
Swanö has been on a hiatus for a while now, the last anyone heard from him being his collection of cover songs as Odyssey. Now he has returned with a new album, with a new project named Witherscape, the album called The Inheritance. It’s a concept album and one that will divide the Swanö fan base, to be sure, because this is a risky, unorthodox album for a figure best-known for his brutal yet melodic offerings.
Witherscape, in my personal estimation, is not metal. Or it barely is. What really resides here is an interesting prog-rock/doom-metal hybrid, laced with Swanö’s blood-curdling roars, which I am certain some people will find off-putting in this musical context. This is a strange album, the kind of album that a figure like Swanö could have only done purely for the love and the fun of it.
A lot of you readers dived into the two singles from this album with excitement, but I wonder if you did so believing that the album would have more to offer than what you heard? The Inheritance is almost exactly nothing but what you’ve already heard — very sparse on the death growls, and full of clean and acoustic interludes with only fragments of heaviness interlaced in between. Some songs are definitely heavier than others, but the first single off the album, “Astrid Falls”, is pretty representative of the entire record.
Of course, it varies enough within its own soundscape to lend the diversity needed to keep listeners hooked, but that’s assuming you like the sound in the first place. The beautiful acoustic guitar sections, the haunting clean sections, the riffs that hit like needle stabs, all create an interesting dichotomy of sound. Songs like “Mother of the Soul” and “Astrid Falls” are brooding numbers that use depressive melodies and employ a reservation of the heaviness to maximum effect. When Swanö unleashes his roars, or when the guitars turn distorted, you really feel the impact, the contrast of those moments. On the other hand, you’ll find songs such as “Dying For The Sun”, a driving prog-rock number that employs bluesy riffing, cheesy prog keyboards, and Swanö’s soulful crooning vocals to maximum effect.
If this were any other band, I wouldn’t be reviewing it for this site. If Swanö weren’t behind this, it wouldn’t be as good as it is, but thankfully it is, and therefore I can justify the immense departure from NCS modus operandi for this. The Inheritance is definitely not for everybody, but for those eager and willing to explore, it’s an engaging and fun listen.
EDITOR’S NOTES: Vocals, drums, and keyboards on the album were performed by Dan Swanö. Ragnar Widerberg handled all guitars and bass-work, including the solos. The lyrics were written by Paul Kuhr of Novembers Doom. The cover art was created by Travis Smith.
https://www.facebook.com/witherscape
http://www.witherscape.com/
just ordered the limited edition mediabook a few mere moments ago 🙂
these tracks are gorgeous, i’m really interested to hear the entire album
Name of the blog is no clean singing yet the album contains lots of clean singing… What gives?
You’re new here then?
Yeah, as time passed since we started the site almost 4 years ago, we began making exceptions.
The only reason for a metalhead to make a rule is to flip it off as he drives by with the windows down, blaring brimstone-scented antisocial venom at pavement-cracking volume. If you call your site No Clean Singing and proceed to never post about a band that features mostly clean singing, you might as well start wearing a sheep suit and wait for a coyote to tear your conformist, rule-following throat out. Metalheads don’t care about rules. Especially their own.
This man knows what’s up.
\m/ \m/ \m/
Coyotes are pussies anyway.
Wow, that cover art screams “King Diamond.” The rest of your description sounds like it’s King Diamond by a guy who (a) can’t do an awesome falsetto scream, (b) doesn’t have two of the most badass guitarists in heavy metal playing for him, and (c) is kind of mopey.
Call me crazy, but, “Dead For A Day,” sounds like if you took Days of The New and made them into a death metal band. I really like this a lot.
I FUCKING LOVE THIS ALBUM.