EL THULE
Green Magic
(Heavy Birth)

HALF MAKESHIFT
Omen
(Profound Lore)

MOSS
Sub Templum
(Rise Above)

DETRITUS
Fractured
(Ad Noiseam)

FROGSKIN / TAUNT
Split
(Streaks)

DEADBIRD
Twilight Ritual

(At a Loss)

THE ROTTED
Get Dead Or Die Trying 

(Metal Blade)

MORE REVIEWS

Now I understand why all the cheering. Now I know why all the hoopla. Now I can get the palms of my hands all irritated after clapping so much along so many others who got Withered before I did. Now I get it. I finally get it.  And by the way, before I go on, I think I am right on time. Quite frankly, Withered’s previous release Memento Mori was like a giant leach that slowly sucked away the joy. That’s probably what the band intended but it still left me rather unsatisfied.  It had some nasty sludge to it and it was heavy as a container filled with concrete, which is just how I like it, but after a couple of listens I kinda wanted to shake it off.  It was impending in the way that impending is meant to be. It showed the band’s impending progress, it displayed Withered’s impending growth, it was so heavy that it was impending that Withered would sooner or later end up crafting a masterpiece of sorts. And this is it. Folie Circulaire is a damn nearly flawless metal album.

Brilliantly produced by Phillip Cope (Kylesa) Folie Circulaire (that’s French for ‘circular madness’) walks a few downtrodden paths and it nails all of them in the bull’s eye. There is some sludge, ever present in the constantly culminating guitars of Mike Thompson and Chris Freeman; the riffs are at times played in slaying hectic black metal fashion while at others they are shaped in pure metal fashion by clearly laying down the scales. Such is the case of the gorgeous “Gnosis Unveils”, where Withered’s sense of melody has so much dirt one has to focus to hear the nuances. That’s what Cope and Withered have done brilliantly; they have taken gorgeous music and have given it a bath of blood, piss and shit. These songs sound killer.

The heavy tinge of black metal from month’s past is still in place, but it’s also sharing headspace with beautiful instrumental passages that scream of the nastiest post-rock you’ve ever heard. “The Forsaken Truth” is just a musical bridge, one abstract surreal line that abruptly ends with the hammering sounds of the blackened “Purification of Ignorance”. The music is at times so stunning and overwhelming, in instances, it almost seems like Folie Circulaire has no vocals. It’s like Withered went totally experimental.  Not to say that the monstruous vocals of Freeman don’t shine, ‘cause off they go uglyfying music that’s so well-crafted, not even after processed by a meat grinder would sound like shit.

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