UMUR "The Northern Sanctuary" is the 2nd full-length studio album by Swedish progressive metal act Witherscape. The album was released through Century Media Records in July 2016. Witherscape was formed in 2013 by Dan Swanö (vocals, drums, and keyboards) and Ragnar Widerberg (guitars, bass). The band released their debut full-length studio album "The Inheritance" in 2013 and "The New Tomorrow" EP followed in 2014. Dan Swanö is known for his involvement in acts like Edge of Sanity, Nightingale, Bloodbath, and Pan.Thy.Monium., while Ragnar Widerberg was probably a bit less known to the metal scene, when Witherscape was formed. He has since been active in both Shadowquest and Witchcraft.

Stylistically "The Northern Sanctuary" pretty much continues the progressive death metal style of "The Inheritance (2013)". I say death metal, but it´s actually mostly the growling vocals which lead me to tagging the music that, because the instrumental part of the music only seldom touches death metal territory. Instead we´re predominantly treated to an epic keyboard heavy type of progressive metal with the occasional nod towards death metal, 70s hard rock, and goth rock. In a lot of ways Witherscape is a combination of elements from some of Swanö´s other projects. Most notably Edge of Sanity, Nightingale, and Moontower. So if you enjoyed the most melodic and progressive rock influenced part of Swanö´s career, but with a touch of death metal, the material on "The Northern Sanctuary" would probably be of interest to you.

The tracks are often layered and a lot of different things are going on at the same time. The soundscape is huge and even during the more mellow melodic parts there is a touch of epic atmosphere. At times a little restraint could have made the material a bit more tasteful, but on the other hand there is something a bit charming about music this loaded with big sounds and epic atmospheres. Swanö as usual delivers a strong vocal performance. His growling vocals are distinct sounding and powerful, and his clean vocals are skillfully performed too. He masters both melodic clean vocals and more raw hard rocking ditto. The instrumental part of the album is very well performed too and both guitars, bass, drums, and keyboards feature an equally important place in the soundscape.

"The Northern Sanctuary" features a powerful and detailed sounding production, which brings out the best in the music. The many intriguing songwriting ideas and the high level musical performances are also great assets, and overall "The Northern Sanctuary" is a high quality release by Witherscape. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "The Inheritance" is the debut full-length studio album by Swedish progressive death metal act Witherscape. The album was released through Century Media Records in July 2013. Witherscape is a two man project featuring Dan Swanö (Edge of Sanity, Nightingale, Bloodbath...etc.) on vocals, drums and keyboards and Ragnar Widerberg on guitars and bass. Dan Swanö has long been one of the most prolific musicians and producers on the Swedish metal scene, but it´s been awfully quiet for some years in terms of him putting out new releases. As always he has participated as a guest vocalist on various projects and has also produced other people´s music, but actual new music written by himself have been sparse. I haven´t heard about Ragnar Widerberg before, but apparently he is a friend of Dan Swanö, who shares the interest in progressive death metal and after throwing ideas back and forth, the two of them decided to form Witherscape.

"The Inheritance" is a concept album concerning the inheritor of an estate in 19th century Sweden. It´s a dark concept theme which suits the atmosphere of the music well. The music is progressive death metal not completely unlike the "Moontower (1999)" album by Dan Swanö´s solo project or his most progressive moments with Edge of Sanity combined with the melodic and progressive elements of the early releases by the Nightingale project. An act like Opeth is also a valid reference. The vocals vary between clean and growling, and there´s great dynamic between heavy parts and more mellow sections. There are clever use of keyboards throughout the album, which occasionally gives the music a 70s progressive rock flair, but "The Inheritance" is still a metal album through and through. I also hear elements from goth (take a listen to the chorus in "Dead for a Day") and traditional heavy metal in the music. The quality of the music is high throughout, so it´s not the type of album where it would be fair to pick out highlights.

The musicianship is not surprisingly stellar. Dan Swanö delivers some powerful and raw growling and his clean singing is also very well performed. His drumming has also gotten better and better with the years and on this album the drums are both adventurous and well played. The contributions of Ragnar Widerberg are also considerable. His guitar playing is varied and his solos are well played and melodic.

"The Inheritance" is packed in a clear, professional and powerful sound production, which brings out the best in the music. It all adds up to quite a great first release by Witherscape. Great dark atmosphere, crushingly heavy riffing as well as melodic ditto, 70s progressive rock and hard rock/metal influences, excellent musicianship, intriguing songwriting and the above mentioned well sounding production are all great contributors to the 4 - 4.5 star (85%) rating that I´ll give "The Inheritance".

Kev Rowland This may sound as if it is a new band, because it is, but what we have here is the latest project from Dan Swanö (vocals, drums, keyboards) with Ragnar Widerberg (guitars, bass). Dan is at pains to point out that they actually rehearsed and played together before they started looking to record this, so in his mind it is a proper band project as opposed to just something that has been put together in the studio. Musically this is a real combination of many styles, so much so that the obvious comparison is Opeth, with much more clean vocals and gentleness than one might imagine. Mind you, Dan has long had a reputation as one of the strongest singers around and the shift in styles throughout songs such as “Astrid Falls” is quite breathtaking.

This is a progressive melodic acoustic extreme death metal album that shows that Dan is definitely back, and that in Ragnar he has discovered someone with whom he can produce some exceptional work. If you don’t like the style then hang on a second or two as it will change, and “Dead for a Day” deserves to be a hit single, even with an extended death growl section! A great debut, now don’t make us wait too long for the follow-up!

J-Man It's been a while since we've heard an album of new material from Swedish metal veteran Dan Swanö, but with the recent debut from Witherscape (his new project with Ragnar Widerberg), it's clear that he is still a force to be reckoned with when it comes to progressive and melodic death metal. Entitled The Inheritance, this 2013 release for Century Media Records walks a fine line between melodic death metal, prog, and hard rock, and although it sounds noticeably different from the works of Edge of Sanity or Nightingale, Witherscape still has a unique Swanö stamp to set itself apart from other acts exploring similar musical territory.

It's worth pointing out that fans of lethal death metal in the vein of Unorthodox-era Edge of Sanity might not fully enjoy the sleek and melodic sound of Witherscape, but those with ears open towards catchy melodeath should find plenty to love here. Tracks like the progressive “Astrid Falls”, wonderfully epic “Dying For the Sun”, and eery “Crawling From Validity” stand as some of the strongest compositions penned so far this year, and everything on the album is delivered professionally. In addition to a powerful sound production, Dan Swanö's vocals (both clean and growled) sound as powerful as ever and Ragnar Widerberg's fretwork is strong across the board.

I guess that a few of the choruses throughout The Inheritance sound a bit too predictable for my tastes (particularly in “To The Calling of Blood and Dreams”), but there's no doubt that Dan Swanö has made a triumphant return to the metal scene with Witherscape's debut. Although I wouldn't place it in the same tier of excellence as Crimson or The Closing Chronicles, The Inheritance is a mighty impressive observation that fans of progressive melodic death metal should really enjoy. Great stuff!