Withered - Folie Circulaire

Their style is hard to define, but Withered's thick and heavy style is appealing to fans of many different genres.

Withered's second full-length finds the Atlanta, Georgia band with a couple of new members. In addition to holdovers Mike Thompson and Chris Freeman, they add bassist Mike Longoria and drummer Beau Brandon.

Folie Circulaire is one of those albums that's difficult to pigeonhole. Withered utilizes an ever changing palatte of styles, tempos and intensities. It has elements of black, death, doom, grind, punk and progressive. The songs are thick and dense, with loud guitars that sometimes cross the line into distortion. Dark black metal with raspy vocals gives way to groovy death metal with growling vocals. There are moments of intense grindcore, and also lengthy instrumental passages that are still extreme, but a little mellower.

Even with all the diversity, the CD flows very well. Withered shifts smoothly from style to style, and the continuity is good. They also bring aboard legendary vocalist Barney Greenway from Napalm Death to guest on a couple of songs. The album wraps up with "Into Armageddon," a cover of the Necrophobic song. Withered stays pretty faithful to the original, but give it their own spin.

Folie Circulaire is a CD that should have a pretty wide appeal. Fans of black, death, doom and a few other genres can find something they like on this album. It's a very well done effort that runs that gamut from highly technical to sloppy and sludgy and everything in between.