Withering / Gospel Of Madness

Withering is a new band that hails from Finland. They started around 1999 playing cover songs from Amorphis, Sentenced and Paradise Lost. After some time they came up with own songs and Gospel of Madness is the result of that. Playing cover songs from the bands I’ve just mentioned did have an influence on the musical style from these Finnish guys. For example, the song On Death’s Colour could be found on an Amorphis album like A Tale from a Thousand Lakes or The Karelian Isthmus. Withering really has a Scandinavian sound. Melodic guitar riffs, heavy grunts (now and then double vocals) and a great production. The speed on this album is mainly mid tempo and may be the weakest point of it I think. If they put more variation in it, the album would be a bit more interesting then it now is. But hey, that‘s my only point of critic. If you listen to the album you can hear that Withering is skilful in what they’re doing. Like I said, the production is great. It was recorded in the Tico Tico Studios and mastered at Finnvox. If you like the sound from bands I just mentioned and melodic Scandinavian death metal particular, I would recommend you to check this one out. By the way, on their website www.withering.org you can download a cover song from the band Survivor, namely Eye of the Tiger. This song can’t be found on the new album, but it’s worth listening to it.

(Quintessence)