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witheredmike
Forum Admin
144 Posts |
 Posted - 09/15/2005 : 5:40:13 PM
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http://www.seaoftranquility.org/reviews.php?op=showcontent&id=2674
SOT Staff Round Table Review (rated 4 stars)
Memento Mori is the debut release of American extreme metal band Withered, in many ways evocative of the first generation nihilistic death metal acts like Unleashed, Entombed, and Dismember. With numerous sludgy elements comprised of slow, agonizing riffage that also recalls modern bands Mastodon, the album takes you on a short musical journey back in time when the earlier Swedish metal bands were at their creative peak, playing relentless death metal heavier than a ten-ton hammer.
Arguably the best release Lifeforce Records have put out in 2005, Memento Mori mostly stands out with its dark atmosphere, delving into black metal territory, especially on the short cuts "Silent Grave" and "Fear and Pain That Cripples Me". Tremelo-picked guitar riffs abound the tracks with a similarity to the black/death extremity of Dissection, the normally grinding vocals of Chris Freeman and Mike Thompson turn into maniacal screaming over an impressive technical lead solo. The dark atmosphere is also evident on the almost 9-minute album finale "Among Sorrow", loaded with pulverizing sludge riffs, spoken vocals, and an almost doomy style. The dark vibe of the song will please many Immolation fans.
With all that said, the centrepiece of Memento Mori is the other 8-minute number "Like Locusts". The song embodies everything Withered is about, from a sludgy build-up in the intro that breaks into a passage filled with massive guitar lines, shifts of complex rhythms marked by fiery drumming, brutal vocals that border on grindcore, and a very distorted bass bottom. Fans of Mastodon and Isis are going to drool over "Beyond Wrath" for its long drawn-out instrumental section, rock-solid riffs, and Chris Freeman's tortured vocals. The riff at the end of this song is simply out of this world. Next to Mastodon, Withered are a band that have excelled in playing awesome guitar riffs that characterize the essence of their brutality. Given the proper promotion and a tour in support of a huge band, Withered could enjoy a huge success in the metal community.
Review by Pete Pardo (Rated 3.5 stars)
Withered have created here on Memento Mori a brutal and unrelenting tsunami of crushing death and doom metal. This is take no prisoners music boys and girls, and not for the faint of heart, but if you like early 90's death metal from the likes of Entombed and Unleashed, or dig the powerful and relentless sounds of newer acts like Mastodon or High on Fire, Withered might just be for you. These guys have a somewhat sludgy guitar sound that is fairly technical at times, yet also borders on doom, especially on songs like "Beyond Wrath" and "Fear and Pain That Cripples Me". Vocally, as you would expect, there's plenty of death growling and modern metal screams here. The switching back and forth between some of the speedier death metal pieces and the slow dirges adds some variety to the CD, but no matter what way you look at it, this is primal, fearsome stuff, that will surely cause some excitement in the extreme metal world. Be aware that the CD is just a little over 30 minutes long, so hopefully on the bands next release they will have a little more material to give to the fans that they are certain to obtain with Memento Mori.
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witheredmike
Forum Admin
144 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2005 : 5:47:19 PM
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http://www.semtexinc.com/reviews/midden_detail.php?ID=363
Withered: Memento Mori (8/10)
Oh my God. This has been spinning around in my cd-player for days. If there's one release you need to check out from Lifeforce records, then it's definitely this one. This is totally different from what you would expect to be coming from Lifeforce nowadays. Withered is definitely an outstep on the Lifeforce Records roster and they are more than just a pounding generic metallic hardcore outfit.
Withered was formed around 2003 somewhere in Atlanta, while two members from Withered originally started up this crust/punk band called Social Infestation. Withered is a broader sidestep from the crust/punk scene, it is a combination of crust hardcore with doomy/epic metal influences and partly carries a cold black metal influence that spreads its wings throughout the entire record. The production of this record is quite stunning and gives the whole record more of a bombastic darkened feel.
Like Locusts opens in a pretty meditative way with some sober melodic guitar lines that settle us down in a doomy darkened glooming mood. It raised the hairs on my back when I played this pretty loud at the part where they actually burst out in pondering grindcore-metal overthrown by a creamed up melodic death metal influence mixing up epic black metal parts with blasting crust inspired drumming. Chris Freeman boils out his vocals in-between screaming and howled out aggression, sporadically backed up by second vocals. All in all it gets pretty doomy and intense. In the middle of the song a sludgy bass comes in and gives us just a short break before we get all overthrown again by epic heavy metalness along the lines of Mastodon and High On Fire. This song lasts more than eight minutes, but to me it was worth every minute. And amongst the best songs on here.
The opening tracks It's All Said and Within Your Grief totally convinced me to dig deeper into this record. Getting overthrown by an overdose of doom in apocalyptic darkened vibrations, the band sometimes made me refer to early mid nineties melodic death metal and hellish black metal. Think of Unleashed, Dark Tranquility and Dismemberment. I mean I was pretty much surprised by the latest Deadlock release on Lifeforce Records and thought that was a good one, but if you compare Withered with any of the Lifeforce bands, they're totally different. These guys know how to open the gates of hell.
Closing track Among Sorrow opens pretty melodic with epic instrumentalism before bursting out in a ferocious black metal storm that feels like a whirlwind of nails that passes you by. Sharp enough to make you fall down on the frozen ground, and in seconds you'll be dragging yourself around on the doomy sweepstakes from Withered. Amazing.
I'm not going to do a lot of namedropping here, because Withered definitely have their own approach to today's heaviness in music. I thought they are by times as heavy as Mastodon or High On Fire with a certain wink to Entombed. But still they lean more towards crust which makes this record bathe in a more doom feeling. On the other side there's a main black metal influence too. This is good stuff, and I'll be giving this one another few more spins as it's growing on me listen by listen. I wish I had the complete packaging from this cd, as this one also has some Paul Romano artwork going.
If anything above here applies to you, check out Withered. It is worth all your efforts, and I'm keeping an eye on them. For sure. Heavy stuff.
[Ray Kluze]
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witheredmike
Forum Admin
144 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2005 : 5:49:49 PM
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http://www.firealive.it/reviews/reviews_w/reviews_w.html#
Withered "Memento Mori" (2005 -Lifeforce Records-)
Withered are an American band located in Atlanta: “Memento mori” is their latest release out on Lifeforce Records, label very much known on the worldwide metalcore scene.
Two Withered's members, Chris Freeman e Mike Thompson, played in Social Infestation, an American punk grindcore crust band. Withered's goal is to create and hit a sound made of various black metal styles mixed with dramatic and melodic guitars. At the beginning of 2004 Withered recorded 5 songs for their album "Order born from chaos", produced by Michael Green. On the same year Withered recorded a 3 songs demo adn through it Withered signed with Lifeforce Records. “Memento mori”: 36 minutes for 7 tracks sounding of pure terror, anger and devastation of sounds with a death metal discharge inspired by early Entombed and to the classical Swedish metal like Dismember and Unleashed; “Memento mori” sounds a bit sludge metal also. Violent riffs accompanied by dominant powerful melodies; the rhythmical part is furious, brutal...really of excellent quality, first rate!!!! Growls are deep and long, making the production more compact and direct.
Lifeforce Records signed another stroke of luck: this label is surfing more and more metal's overboarders through Withered, one of the most vanguard on the finest metal scene. Stay brutal with this sick, amazing sound!!
Massi
Vote: 8/10 |
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witheredmike
Forum Admin
144 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2005 : 5:51:07 PM
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http://www.breakingcustom.com/php/content_review.php?id=1126108621
Rating: 9/10
Death metal’s answer to Dream Theater is here! At seven tracks long and a running time of 37 minutes, it doesn’t take much to realize that these guys can do some serious ass kicking in their song writing. Withered is a band that’s here to let you know that 9-minute songs don’t have to be boring.
While the album starts out with a typical blast beat and tremolo picking, the rest of the album is far from typical. Every song covers pretty much ever style of metal and then some. While the songs are long, they still seem to go by quickly because of the fast paced progression and some pretty hellish riffs. The vocals are spread out and placed in unexpected areas, so there’s an instrumental feel to the band, but they don’t sacrifice vocals entirely. As if some great art wasn’t conveyed enough through the music on this CD, the band decided to show off even more by having the infamous Paul Romano (Mastodon, A Life Once Lost) do the artwork for the album, which really is the last piece to this mysterious puzzle.
The biggest downside to this album is the production. While it’s not the worst quality ever, it just doesn’t do the album justice, and one should expect more. In some spots of the album it does help give a push of raw energy, which fits perfectly.
Memento Mori is a disc that will not only make you forget what you know about metal, but it will also completely redefine it for you, compliments of Withered.
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witheredmike
Forum Admin
144 Posts |
Posted - 09/15/2005 : 5:54:59 PM
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http://www.riftrock.com/reviews.php?c=551
memento mori rating: 8/10 Don't pass this up!
Withered come out of Atlanta, Georgia, blasting faces off with their debut extreme metal release “Memento Mori” such a cliché name for an album that offers so much more than what the term on this band’s first release of LifeForce records. For what is being called extreme metal these days there are few bands that can accomplish such a label that by all means does exist but in how many bands is the question, well you can certainly add Withered to that list because this album will be overwhelming to the metal senses.
What’s even more ironic about this band is that a few of the members actually spawned from a grind/crust project known as Social Infestation, and one can only imagine how well they perform other types of heavy music if they can change their ways to create an album that overtakes most metal releases these days. The album is filled with Black Metal influences without becoming entirely consumed by the category and still keeping this powerful sound which can take skin off.
Every song on the album is like a stick of dynamite going off in your head to use the best of fun imagery to describe this act which will have metal audiences of various sorts enjoying this release thoroughly. They include many different kinds of metal from black, to doom, to death, all which are used in a way that makes this album one that is layered and though fuzzy at times it merely adds to its size which is one that is a lot to handle.
This is not an album to be played at low decimal’s, this is one that needs to be blasted from which ever devise you choose to use, except I don’t think your Ipod will be able to handle this one. Withered, with their typical name, and overused album title, prove to be anything but the usual, which is a damn enjoyable surprise |
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witheredmike
Forum Admin
144 Posts |
Posted - 09/27/2005 : 3:29:24 PM
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http://www.vocalmartyr.com/?p=113
September 23rd, 2005 by Jack Johnson
Withered’s debut full length LP, Memento Mori, is an interesting beast. Combining the plodding, dark elements of doom metal, the blistering blasts beats and harsh guitars of grindcore, and the growling, guttural vocals of death metal, Memento Mori is indeed hard to nail down into any particular genre.
From the get go, Withered seem intent on destroying all sense of hope while tearing your head off with their aural assault that is this album. ‘It’s All Said’ begins with a crushing blast-fest that grindcore junkies will eat up, then drops to gloomy, slow doom metal riffs before picking back up into more scorching grind. Then there are the much darker ‘Within Your Grief’ and ‘Beyond Wrath’, ready to fill you with a sense of hopelessness and despair. ‘Silent Grave’ is the closest to good old-fashion grind, with fewer of the melancholy elements that exist in most of the other tracks. ‘Like Locusts’ and ‘Among Sorrow’ both run at around 9 minutes and are prime examples of the doomgrind fusion that pervades this album. Clocking in at a somewhat short 36 minutes long (yeah, yeah, that’s long for a straight grindcore album), it’s a bit interesting that almost half of that time is dedicated to only two out of the seven songs.
Memento Mori is surprisingly deep musically. The technicality of the guitars can match up with some of today’s best. The time changes are also quite impressive and they really make it sound like it’s nothing. Doom transitions to grind and back again flawlessly. They even mix a bit of gothic keyboards in, but they are merely supplemental. I suppose if I had one complaint it’s that the album isn’t as clean production-wise as it could be, but it’s still better than 90% of grindcore albums out there (and honestly, how would they get those great grating guitar riffs if they spent shitloads of money on production anyway?). If you’re in the mood for something a little dark, but brutal and a bit experimental, you’d do well in checking out this CD.
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witheredmike
Forum Admin
144 Posts |
Posted - 10/04/2005 : 12:26:57 PM
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Withered – Memento Mori
Lifeforce Records – LFR 056 – September 20th, 2005
By Jason Jordan
Take a good, long look at the cover art for Memento Mori, and tell me you aren’t softened by its finesse. But as pretty as the artwork is, it’s quite deceiving because Withered’s brand of death metal surely isn’t hinted at by the album’s beautiful encasing. So not only will you receive a pleasant eyeful with this debut, but you’ll glean an earful to match.
Perplexingly, Withered is an American band of musicians, though they sound as if they were schooled in Sweden. The seven songs, here, are more closely related to groups such as Hypocrisy, Centinex, and Amon Amarth than to any of their budding, homeland compadres. The running time juts past the thirty-five minute mark, which seems to be an adequate length for this type of metal venture. In addition, Memento Mori comes across as being focused on the right thing, namely execution. The instrument-wielders satisfy the listener to the point of fulfillment, and absolutely nothing about this full-length feels too overdone, underdone, or pell-mell. I also assert that there aren’t really any standout tracks on the recording; the whole package blends so well without ever losing consistency, which in turn makes it difficult for the frailties of one song to be morphed into the strengths of another. It might sound odd on paper, but rest assured that there’s validity in there somewhere, I think.
From the outset of Memento Mori, I knew I was listening to something special. And, moreover, I’m elated to find yet another quality act – Withered – residing within the confines of the ever-burgeoning metal scene. While the album didn’t exactly thrill me to the point of being the catalyst for an incessant, fanboy-like praise session, the quartet have succeeded in the fact that the scale has been tipped – overwhelmingly – in favor of the pros, rather than the cons. Looks like Lifeforce Records has a rising star within their ranks, and Memento Mori is perhaps the first step to instantaneous solidification.
8/10
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witheredmike
Forum Admin
144 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2005 : 10:39:45 AM
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http://www.metalstorm.ee/reviews/more_review.php?id=1400
Reviewed by Deadsoulman @ Metal Storm
I am in a playful mood today. Let’s have a little quiz:
Q: What happens when two members of the US grindcore band Social Infestation form a new, almost entirely different band?
a) They drink.
b) They drink, rape everything that looks remotely human, and also dogs and hamsters, drink, feast on rotten corpses, tell gore and porn jokes, and drink.
c) They try to drink their instruments.
d) They drink even more.
e) They release the heaviest metal album of the year.
tick-tack… tick-tack… tick-tack…. BUZZ!!
Well… Congratulations to those who gave answer E. You’re so cool. As for the others. You can go for brain surgery or healthy trips in the countryside. You seriously need it if you think these awful clichés about our grindcore friends are true.
Anyway, back on track, YES, the correct answer was e) they release the heaviest metal album of the year. Memento Mori is relentless, crushing, heavier than heavy, pounding metal. It is also extremely original, technical and melodic. Withered’s music is quite hard to define, but a good overview would be a mix between grind, old school death, noisecore, sludge and… something else called the mysterious and ethereal Personal Touch. Imagine, just for an instant, a mix between Dismember, Neurosis, Cephalic Carnage, Mastodon and Cult Of Luna, and you’re still not there.
It has some of the best death-like intros I’ve heard for long (“Within Your Grief”, “Like Locusts”), lethal grinding accelerations (“Beyond Wrath”), touching yet disturbing melodies (“Like Locusts” again), brutal vocals with a touch of despair, excellent slow-, mid- and fast-paced riffs, some amazing drumming that only grind bands can offer, and a raw sludgy production to wrap it all up. Besides, Memento Mori radiates a kind of claustrophobic atmosphere that make me feel quite uneasy, as if lost in a very weird dream, of the kind that you know is too surreal to be happening but leaves you breathless and panting…
Speechless I feel. Not so playful anymore. Got to get out in the sunshine. Meanwhile, this is highly recommended to everyone in search for musical talent, since this might well be the very best album of the year in this genre. In any case, this is a masterpiece that must not be missed.
Highlights: It’s All Said, Within Your Grief, Like Locusts and The Fear And Pain That Cripples Me. And also the rest. This is too great to be overlooked.
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Reviews for "Memento Mori"
