The Northern Sanctuary Witherscape 2016 Century Media Records Witherscape are a Death Metal band from Sweden that incorporate a much more progressive element to their sound. Witherscape’s sound can be rooted deeply in Melodic Death Metal moving more towards including Progressive Rock into their fold. For those who are not familiar with Witherscape work, you can expect a sound in a similar vein to Opeth and Edge of Sanity, the latter featuring one half of Witherscape, Dan Swanö. The Northern Sanctuary is the 2nd studio album from Witherscape, following 2013’s The Inheritance, if you don’t count 2014’s EP, The New Tomorrow. The Northern Sanctuary picks up near enough directly where The Inheritance left off, a solid sound with excellent song-writing from the Heavy Metal virtuoso, Dan Swanö, whose résumé would take far too long to list here with the other half of Witherscape being Ragnar Widerberg of Doom Metal band, Witchcraft. Once more, Swanö shows that there is literally no end to his talents by also producing The Northern Sanctuary. Swanö has given The Northern Sanctuary a clear sound, it isn’t awash with distortion and buried beneath blast beats and growls, it is crisp and to the point without taking away from the overall Melodic Death Metal sound without being strained by being plain black and white. The Northern Sanctuary being an absolute pleasure to listen to. Beginning with the Tubular Bells-esque keyboard, Wake of Infinity sets the ball rolling before descending into the familiar Melodic Death Metal crunch that you expect from Witherscape, especially with the host of bands which litter Swanö’s CV. Swanö has a voice that is not only suited to Death Metal, but also melodic with Swanö actually having a decent singing voice, which is also shown in Wake of Infinity. Wake of Infinity is a very catchy track with its repeating keyboard pattern in the background acting as an almost odd anchor for the song before ending with the guitar harmonising the keyboard. Witherscape chose to release the second track on In the Eyes of Idols as the music video from The Northern Sanctuary. If the opening track was catchy, then In the Eyes of Idols turns up the heat, from a memorable guitar riff by Wilderberg as Swanö growls rhythmically along with the bass before switching to his singing voice. In the Eyes of Idols also features Swanö having some great interplay with himself via some studio trickery. However, it is not all Swanö, the guitar solo laid down by Wilderberg has a fantastic tone, not just on In the Eyes of Idols but throughout the entire of The Northern Sanctuary. Not all of The Northern Sanctuary is balls out Death Metal, as The Northern Sanctuary also shows a more subtle side the band through some fantastic keyboard and acoustic playing during The Examiner and after a few listens, it’s a wonder why Witherscape chose to go with any other song to release as a single. The Northern Sanctuary is made entirely by its dynamics, it ebbs and flows between aggressive and subtly beautiful, masterfully arranging the best of both worlds into a solid album with even the 13 minute title track seemingly feeling an average length without the urge to shout “get on with it” rising. Overall, The Northern Sanctuary is a decent album and in a poorer year of album releases, The Northern Sanctuary would be easily top 10. If you’re looking for a decent Melodic Death Metal band since Opeth stopped releasing anything good, then look no further than Witherscape. 8/10 Adam In the Eyes of Idols (Swanö/Kuhr)
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