There are figures on Metal that become legends.

Yes, these guys and girls that the single mention of their names is enough to guarantee that the band's work is excellent. And let me tell you, my dear nephews and nieces: if you're into the Metal scene for, at least, ten years, the name of Dan Swanö, the workaholic Swedish that took part in bands as EDGE OF SANITY (one of the founders of Melodic / Progressive Death Metal), NIGHTINGALE, and many others, is well known. And along with Ragnar Widerberg (from SHADOWQUEST and WITCHCRAFT), they created WITHERSCAPE, a Progressive Metal/Progressive Death Metal act that is releasing their second and great album, "The Northern Sanctuary".

As I told above, we can say that WITHERSCAPE is a Progressive Death Metal band, due the brutal aspects of some songs (and extreme vocals), but it is filled with excellent melodies, great Progressive moments (especially on the keyboards and guitars), and the music itself is excellent, creating the needed atmosphere for us to understand its complexity with no problems at all. It's truly tender, but you need to take care with the aggressive moments. And the album is excellent, from its beginning to the very end.

Obviously, Dan Swanö took care of the mixing and mastering, creating an excellent balance between the aggressive side of the band's music with a clean sound quality. But it keeps the weight of the music as well, so you won't complain about the album production.

"Wake of Infinity" is filled with very good aggressiveness on guitars and drums, and fine keyboards arrangements (and with a very good technical insight as well), that are the same elements you'll find on the hooking "In the Eyes of Idols" (where there are some musical accessibility, even with the use of oppressive harsh vocals, but there are great Progressive moments as well, with good clean voices). The same melodic complexity we see on some moments on the previous songs can be heard again on "Rapture Ballet" (where the Progressive moments are fine once more). A progressive melodic introspection feeling appears on "The Examiner", presenting a good contrast between clean and harsh voices, as some excellent guitar riffs appear again. And on "Marionette", these elements are shown again, where bass guitar and drums, along with the keyboards, are showing a solid work. On "Divinity", a pure Hard N' Heavy feeling appears in the guitars and vocals, besides there are some nasty and aggressive moments. "God of Ruin" is almost entirely Progressive and melodic, except for some aggressive vocals here and there, where melodies give space to aggressiveness. And the long "The Northern Sanctuary" is a voyage, where all the musical aspects of the band are explored, from progressive and tender melodies to harsh and brutal moments. Ending the album is "Vila I Frid", an ending simple theme done entirely on the piano. So, as I wrote about all the songs, I truly believe that you won't ask me for the better moments, will you?

Great album, great band... Oh, come on, buy it now, and have a great time!