Here it is: The fourth full-length album from Danish melodic Death Metallers
Withering Surface, and what a great addition to their back catalogue!
The band has been around for about ten years, and after the success of the two previous albums The Nude Ballet and Walking On Phantom Ice,
Withering Surface have taken their sound to an even higher level.
Holding many parallels to
At The Gates and
In Flames, this is Melodeath as it was meant to be: halfway Death and halfway melody where both elements are woven together perfectly, creating a balanced and versatile impression.
Gears serves as a cool opener, with it's Thrashy feeling, great temoshifts and melodic chorus. This brutal beast should win over most melodeath lovers right from the first note, and even the most hardboiled Metal freaks will surrender to the snarling, Black Metallish screams of Michael H. Andersen, who sometimes resembles Tomas Lindberg (At The Gates, The Great Deceiver, Nightrage) a bit.
Exit Sculpture is another killer track, where aggression and harmony creates a perfect balance. Melodic guitars, three different kind of vocal styles (growl, screams and clean vocals) and a good refrain mark the highlights of another well-written creation.
This View is just a super catchy tune, and could be called the hit of the album. From the first listen, this is going to get stuck in your head for sure. A very memorable song with a strong refrain and tons of melody, while still maintaining the rough edge. A great track!
Ironically, the titletrack seems the uncatchiest of them all. Not a bad song, this just doesn't stick to your brain the same way as the rest of the record, and seems to lack some more melody or catchiness.
Machinery shows that
Withering Surface knows how to kick ass the good old Death Metal way as well, pure aggression, snarling growls and a heaviness second to none, make up for another album highlight!
Urban Glasses, starts out kind of mellow, with a distorted narrative voice, but soon turns into screaming. This song is a little different and experimenting, involving various distortion effects, some sampler, and a more laid back feeling than the rest of the stuff. Not one of the best songs here, but a fair end to the album.
As a whole, the record is very well written, consistent in pretty much every detail, and varied in music as well as vocal style. The vocals are super aggressive and intense, but still singer
Michael H. Andersen takes the freedom to experiment a little, adding deeper growls on some tracks, clean vocals, and even different distortion effects. The furious, brutal nature of the music is spiced up with beautiful harmonies, creating a wide-ranging universe that never gets boring!
Tue Madsen has produced the album, which has resulted in an aggressive overall sound, with a modern touch to it, and this suits the hard but somehow technical nature of the music very well.
Summing up, this is a very intense and aggressive record, but with an extremely catchy side to it, and room for melody and diversity, and it should appeal to all lovers of Melodic Death.
Written by
Nina Saturday, September 4, 2004
Show all reviews by NinaRatingsNina: 7.5/10Members: No members have rated this album yet.
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