Band:	Witherscape
Album:	The Inheritance
Style:	Atmospheric death metal, Extreme progressive metal
Release date:	July 26, 2013
A review by:	R'Vannith

01. Mother Of The Soul
02. Astrid Falls [feat. Eddie Risdal]
03. Dead For A Day
04. Dying For The Sun [feat. Joel Selsfors & Paul Kuhr]
05. To The Calling Of Blood And Dreams
06. The Math Of The Myth
07. Crawling From Validity
08. The Wedlock Observation [feat. Eddie Risdal, Morten Jørgensen & Paul Kuhr]
09. The Inheritance
10. Last Rose Of Summer [Judas Priest cover] [Mediabook bonus]
11. A Cry For Everyone [Gentle Giant cover] [Mediabook bonus]

Witherscape is yet another Swanö project and one which offers progressive death metal thematically and aesthetically caste in a gothic atmosphere. With a keyboard rich texture The Inheritance naturally receives the wealth of inspiration the name Swanö has come to guarantee, as it benefits from a structural integrity shown in the likes of Moontower and Edge Of Sanity's releases.

There is a concept supposedly fixing the album's components yet it seems neatly curtailed or made an underlying thread which isn't essential to the record's appreciation. An emphasis on the cleans of Swanö and guest vocalists do bring one's attention back to the tale being told (one concerning the inheritor of an estate in 19th century Sweden) as they fulfill their roles spread album wide before The Inheritance receives a reappraisal in the collective vocal effort "The Wedlock Observation." Placed toward the album's end there is an obvious focus on this track to bringing the theme to the listener's attention before its cessation.

Each track is distinctive with inbuilt fluctuation not sacrificing the flow and the album can be enjoyed without thematic dependence as it isn't overly complicated in terms of the integration of a story and it doesn't alienate those who are just listening for the quality of music. It pulls you into a sequence of memorable songs which owe more stylistically to an extreme edge of progressive metal than to death metal.

The way of ending many of the album's pieces with a sudden termination disrupts the neatly established flow somewhat yet also seems to enhance or announce, prior to a brief pause, the arrival of the coming transition to a new track. "Dying For The Sun" will have you fooled in that regard as silence ensues toward its end before surprising with a final growl.

Much of the creativity is housed within the initial stages as "Dying For The Sun", for example, shifts through a staggering range of varied passages from its first strums initially laid bare then enhanced with keyboard effects and a sullen repetition of the track's title, all of which slowly fades to reveal a left to right guitar crunch whilst cleverly maintaining a resolute rhythm. And that's just getting things started. Plus it features some ye olde "Moog" synth work, assuredly giving it that authentic progressive rock feel.

The impressionable sense of melody is best felt in tracks like "Dead For A Day", one of those songs whose riffs and growled chorus live long in the memory after the album's end. To aid recollection the keyboards hold a prominent role, especially on "The Math Of The Myth" with its clapping of hands to place added emphasis on the quick beat.

An expected level of quality is assured with such a respected musician playing a formative role and this level is easily maintained with the wealth of ideas in The Inheritance.