Withered – Folie Circulaire CD "Indeed, seamless is the word of the day here, and Withered have mastered the art of making songs that amount to strings of riffs feel completely organic and natural. After a brief intro (NOT the completely random noise variety, thank fuck), the album begins in earnest with “The Fated Breath.” By turns slinging thunderous Stockholm grooves, withering (har har) blastbeaten passages, and heaving, apocalyptic doom slowdowns, the track drags you through a maze of riffs that constantly build on each other’s desperate melodies until finally sliding teeth-first into one last gratuitous guitar drubbing—and that’s to say nothing of the first of Barney Greenway’s two guest appearances, who as usual sounds like a bear with a hernia. This band’s sense of timing and dynamic has improved from decent to astounding; it’s like listening to an entire 12-minute Wolves in the Throne Room opus condensed down to four minutes. In fact, one of the best things about Folie Circulaire is Withered’s decision to abandon their former ponderous longwindedness in favor of terser, more blackened stylings. “Dichotomy of Exile” and “Gnosis Unveiled” open with neato melodic motifs that eventually build into cathartic black metal fury, while “Purification of Innocence” dispenses with the buildup and delves straight into flensing tremolo-picking that could be straight out of a Dissection song. These guys are obviously very accomplished musicians with absolutely no interest in showing off—the focus here is purely on crafting gut-wrenching epic melody and then burying it under a thick shell of distortion and vitriol. It almost reminds me of early Edge of Sanity or Eucharist; the catchiness is there, but Withered’ll be damned if you’re gonna get it out of them without a fight. Even the friggin’ production is amazing: massive and kinetic, but simultaneously warm and inviting..." - Doug Moore / Last Rites
