Withering Surface – ‘Meet Your Maker’ (Mighty Music)

By Jonny Bakes

It has to be admitted that 2020 has been the year of the unexpected so far, so why not throw an unexpected comeback into the mix too? The halls of the Withering surface practice studio have been silent for the best part of 15 years, but now there’s a rumbling that heralds the return of these stalwarts of Danish melodic death metal.

Inspired by the early pioneers of Swedish melodic death metal coming out of Gothenburg in the mid-1990s (such as In Flames, At the Gates and Dark Tranquility), Withering Surface were quick to capitalise on this new movement and establish themselves as one of the most successful Danish bands in the genre. Yet after a decade of success, the band took an indefinite hiatus in 2005. Until now that is…

So, why is now the time for Withering Surface to make their comeback? The genre is now packed full of bands who have found success as melodic death metal artists, including many from the UK, so there’s a lot to break back into. However, this comeback is not intended to push the nostalgia of their previous success, instead Withering Surface promise something new and fresh. There’s only one way to find out how that sounds, so let’s dive in and see what ‘Meet Your Maker’ has to offer.

The first thing that stands out is that while this may be some fresh material, it is still deeply rooted in those early influences. I don’t know about you, but that certainly tickles my testicles in the right way! The drums absolutely blast their way through each track to lay down a solid base for the guitar melodies and the controlled growls of Michael Anderson. Through listening to this, it’s very likely that you’ll find yourself inspired to dig through your music collection and dust off some old In Flames albums to follow it up.

The album kicks off with the slightly prog-influenced title track ‘Meet Your Maker’. It’s a bit of a slow burner this one, in that it takes a little while to really build up to a pace to remind you where Withering Surface left off all those years ago. After a good minute or so of build up, you get kicked in the gut with a melodic riff that stirred up some very old memories of Trivium. The catchy chorus of “Don’t bite the hand that feeds” quickly becomes an earworm that will remain long after you’ve listened to the album. Or at least it did for me anyway!

This is just the beginning of some pretty powerful stuff though, and the pace doesn’t let up with the second track ‘Raised Right’ which combines the guitars of Allan Tvederbrink and Marcel Leach into some pretty sweet harmonies that give this track some extra guts, just in case you weren’t already convinced that this album is well worth seeing through to the end.

A bit of an unexpected surprise awaits as you make your way through the back end of the album with the track ‘I’ll Soon Be Gone’. Not only is this a change of pace with its heavy-ballad nature, it also features a duet between Michael Andersen and his 19-year old daughter Elizabeth. This results in a distinct sense of melancholy thanks, in part, to Elizabeth’s haunting vocals although Michael’s vocals maintain a level of aggression to compliment this. Coincidentally this song seems to be the perfect accompaniment for the pretty bleak weather that I’m sheltering from while writing this! In all seriousness though, this has become one of my personal favourite tracks on the album and can easily see this sneaking into my melodeath playlist.

So, was it worth the 15 year wait for new material from Withering Surface? In my opinion, abso-fucking-lutely. These guys are back to show exactly what traditional melodic death metal should sound like, with the added bonus of some great production that will make this album stand out against their earlier collection. This will obviously appeal to fans of their early influences, but I would say that this could be something that will appeal to fans of Trivium who are looking to broaden their horizons. I can only hope that this is intended to be a sustained return for the band and not a one-off because I’m hungry for more already!

‘Meet Your Maker’ is out now. You can get your copy, and other Withering Surface goodies, HERE.

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