After keeping a strong hold, a hegemonic clamp on the whole contemporary Melodic Hard Rock panorama, and reaching an almost cult state in the AOR global scene leading to a monopoly condition, the Italian label, Frontiers Records, received lately much approval for its selection of more straight Metal acts like TRICK OR TREAT, now even expands its roster onto a couple of High profiled Progressive bands that have begun to appear on the Frontiers Records catalog : CIRCUS MAXIMUS and now another Norwegian contender, WITHEM ...A talented band that started off their career with a bang in 2013 with the album, "The Point of You" (Sensory Records).

Unexpectedly, this sophomore album easily has surpassed the debut, but also the last CIRCUS MAXIMUS offering, however clearly comparable and located in the same range of style, but with a more edgy spirit, stronger in the orchestrations, a nervous temperament and directed by a more coherent focus in authority, a solid density in its melodic mood, and fed by an epic spirit, which can reveal sometimes missing in this Nordic Modernized Progressive Metal genre ("Arrhythmia")!

Since their early inception, WITHEM has pushed out the boundaries of Prog Metal, inventing new rules and has evolved through a virgin realm of inventiveness with keyboard driven themes and reinforced cutting-edges that are set in an ambitious songwriting target. And now incorporating again, a wider spectrum of musical elements in order to fit perfectly into their own vision, a Progressive notion based around poetry and lyrical cleverness but with a reinforced temper!

Some could argue that the early material was perhaps too predictable and easily influenced by the giants of the genre, "The Unforgiving Road" is a more complete and varied album. Pertinently, the freshly updated combination has a new flux of creativity that's set in a more melodic approach that influenced their sound since their prime days. Still innovative and sophisticated, refined, better adapted with the mandatory Power Metal characteristics of sharpness, and particulary enlightened by the updated versatility and fantastic vocal capacities of Ole Aleksander Wagenius and his talented bunch of skilled players!

Solidified by a state-of-the-art production under duty handled by Guitarist Øyvind Voldmo Larsen with an ultra-modern sonic rendition, the obvious superior quality of this newest album boosted with the promoting force of the leading Italian label, should be an important step for the further development of their promising career, their song "The Pain I Collected" could be rated as the blueprint for a third brand of evolution...Can't wait for the next album! <