Band:	Witherfall
Album:	Curse Of Autumn
Style:	Progressive power metal
Release date:	March 2021

01. Deliver Us Into The Arms Of Eternal Silence
02. The Last Scar
03. As I Lie Awake
04. Another Face
05. Tempest
06. Curse Of Autumn
07. The Unyielding Grip Of Each Passing Day
08. The Other Side Of Fear
09. The River
10. ...And They All Blew Away
11. Long Time [acoustic version]

Witherfall sounds like Iced Earth meets Nevermore meets Symphony X.

I do like power metal, as much as I'm frustrated with its overt cheesiness, and I sometimes prefer it if a band goes all in on the cheesiness. However I can't deny that there is power metal out there, usually of the US power metal variety, that can do the sound and avoid the cheese at the same time. Which is pretty much what I like about Witherfall. Though I must admit I often mistake them for Witherscape, I've been following Witherfall for a while, and I'm a bit amazed that by their third album they still haven't amassed an even larger following, especially considering the personnel involved in the album: Iced Earth's Jake Dreyer on guitars, Sanctuary's Joseph Michael on vocals, Steven Wilson's Marco Minnermann on drums, with the so-far-creditless Anthony Crawford on bass and Alex Nasla on keyboards.

It might be a testament to Witherfall's credibility that half of those big band connections I mentioned came after Witherfall, so they got their gigs while being Witherfall members instead of forming Witherfall as a supergroup, it just sort of became a supergroup as a result. Still, The Curse Of Autumn came, and the splash wasn't too big. And it sure as hell isn't because the album isn't good, as much as it does have some issues. Let's talk about the good stuff. Every player is fantastic, as can be expected by this time, and it clearly shows, with the band carefully finding moments to showcase their technical and songwriting abilities into crafting meaty progressive metal with a lot of heavy, thrash and power metal injections. The time that members spent in Iced Earth and Sanctuary clearly bore a mark on the songwriting here, with a lot of it throwing some cues to 80s metal without feeling too pastiche.

I can't say that the album has any fatal flaw, but there is still some squeaking that keeps it from greatness. I can't say that the album is really long, as the hour-long runtime is really commonplace among both power and progressive metal albums, but I still feel that some light cutting would've stopped some of the meandering moments in some of the songs' intros and outros. Still, the band's ability mostly manages to make that runtime worthwhile, but I still have a slight feeling that the band still doesn't properly gel together as great as they could, and perhaps that has to do with the huge expectation given by the members' connections to other greats. That said, I'm having a hard time really poking too much at its minor shortcomings when the performances are this terrific all around, the sound is so dramatic and effective in being dark and melodic in a way progressive metal can sometimes feel, even with its 80s influences more abound.

I feel like this is the most realized Witherfall record, with the band being short of completing their sonic identity. Even if they aren't there just yet, they feel close enough that you can feel it breathing on your neck. With Iced Earth probably gone for good, Nevermore definitely gone, and Symphony X on hiatus, there's no better torchbearer for this sound out there than Witherscape... I mean... Witherfall.