Withered - Dualitas
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Ah, the sweet stench of redemption. Withered have frustrated me for the past five years with two records that promised much but delivered little. The band could shred, write catchy riffs, and dial up amazing tones – but it couldn’t write a song to save its life.
Dualitas (Prosthetic, 2010) isn’t an anthem-fest, but it resolves Withered’s, ahem, dual personality. Black metal, which makes up most of Withered’s sound (death metal and a little sludge fill out the rest), tends to fall into one of two modes: introverted (Burzum) and extroverted (Marduk). (Or, as I’ve put it, “sitting down” and “standing up”.) Withered have both sides. In the past, they’ve expressed both full-on simultaneously. This resulted in not songs so much as cement blocks of sound. Live, this translated into crowds standing around with little to latch onto.
Now the band lets things breathe. Sometimes it’s pulverizing like Swedish death metal, with rumbling, distorted bass. Sometimes it recedes into haunted introspection. Bridging these dynamics is much matured songcraft. Instead of being stapled together, passages now glide from one to another along textures and abstract melodies.
Such depth extends lyrically. With involved, wordy liner notes (a “foreword” essay plus explanations for each song), this record is sort of a self-help manual. It explores notions of self-annihilation and rebuilding through the titular concept of duality. The band could use a text editor, but at least it’s thinking hard about things.
It speaks better, anyway, through music. Its growth is palpable here. Previous Withered records were two-dimensional and mostly monochromatic. Dualitas is a living, breathing entity with a three-dimensional presence. Like any interesting being, it continually reveals more details with time.
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HEAR DUALITAS
“The Progenitor’s Grasp” & “Extinguished with the Weary”
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BUY DUALITAS
Amazon (MP3)
Amazon (CD)
Relapse (CD, shirt)
Prosthetic (CD, 2LP, shirt)
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