WITHERFALL

There was something special about WITHERFALL from the start. Arriving seemingly from nowhere, with 2017's "Nocturnes and Requiems", their creative core of guitarist Jake Dreyer and vocalist Joseph Michael were armed with a subtly subversive take on the classic prog metal sound. Ornate and intricate, but also brutal and fiercely untraditional, their music delivered visceral thrills and cerebral jolts, and stood out from just about everything else as a result. Two more albums have followed, "A Prelude To Sorrow" (2018) and "Curse Of Autumn" (2021). Both maintained and built upon the magical bombast of the debut, pushing WITHERFALL's catch-all sound into ever more dramatic, melodic and extreme directions. After three albums with CENTURY MEDIA, they have set forth on their own independent path and have become even less bound by mainstream tastes.

"Sounds Of The Forgotten" captures them in peak condition, and in an explosively creative mood. Jake Dreyer's endlessly inventive guitar work is on full display as opener "They Will Let You Down" goes off like a fistfight in a morgue. WITHERFALL are often compared to the late, great NEVERMORE, and while that is fair to some degree, particularly when it comes to this album's huge, black-hearted ballads, it is also worth noting that NEVERMORE never sounded as berserk or untamed as this. Pointedly proggy, but always rooted in punishing, red-blooded metal, "They Will Let You Down" is instant confirmation that this band's identity has weathered a change in circumstances well. "Where Do I Begin?" follows: the first of several heart-shredding slow numbers that showcase the spellbinding depth and dexterity of Joseph Michael's singing (and growling). Gleefully swimming in schmaltz, WITHERFALL spin off on a brief math-metal tangent but return to hammer home a chorus that would grace any flamboyant Broadway production, just after Dreyer peels off a gorgeous solo and Michael hits notes that would make Rob Halford's eyes water. Later, "When It All Falls Away" repeats the trick, but somehow bigger and better. WITHERFALL have always been great at ballads, but this one is ridiculous. From ghostly organ tones and a beautiful Spanish guitar solo from Dreyer to another powerhouse chorus that mutates into the mother of all crescendos, it is a "more is more" masterclass. The gracefully belligerent title track completes a triumvirate of crestfallen marvels. There will be tears.

For the most part, however, "Sounds Of The Forgotten" is full of the same, dazzling virtuoso brutality that made WITHERFALL such a fearsome proposition from the start. Intense and convincing, even at their most theatrical, songs like "Insidious" (think SAVATAGE meets CRADLE OF FILTH but evolved to the point of madness) and "Ceremony Of Fire" (a morbid, hell-for-leather mini-symphony, with a huge and entirely reasonable crush on KING DIAMOND) are designed to do serious damage, with plenty of death and black metal grit swirling around in the mix, and an almost constant barrage of miraculous lead work from Dreyer. Meanwhile, grand finale "What Have You Done" delivers the expected prog payoff: an immersive and subtly old-school colossus, realized in WITHERFALL's trusty black and purple hues, and executed with both a lightness of touch and ruthless, militant zeal.

Put simply, this is WITHERFALL's fourth truly exceptional album in a row. Prog metal is safe in their bloody, velvet claws. What a band.