In my 20 plus years of music ‘journalism’,  I’ve had the pleasure of meeting lots of folks at shows, for interviews, over the phone, etc. However, a few dudes standout out as absolutely the nicest , chillest guys I’ve met; all the chaps from Between the Buried and Me, Carnifex drummer Shawn Cameron, and Mike […]

Back in 2006, I saw Dismember, Grave, Vital Remains and Atlanta’s Withered at a hole in the wall venue in St. Louis, MO. Dismember and Grave were two Swedish death metal icons, Vital Remains were still basking in the afterglow of Dechristianize and new comers Withered had recently released Memento Mori, a solid Swedish styled death metal album with some black and sludge metal thrown in. It remains the best show that I have ever attended. After the show, I hung out with Withered front man Mike Thompson as I had recently interviewed him for Metal Maniacs. He was one of the nicest, most down to earth dudes I had ever met and we stayed in somewhat regular contact. Fast forward a decade.

Ive been a big fan of Atlanta’s Withered since 2005s Stockholm meets Mastodon lurch of Memento Mori. Even the bands foray into blacker realms with 2008s Folie Circulaire and 2010s Dualitas were impressive. Even more so since I got to hang out with and drink a beer with frontman and founder Mike Thompson back in […]

Aside from the bragging rights associated with attending a Swedish metal show, I was genuinely excited to see some “real” metal after spending the last two weeks lavishing in the cheap thrills of Turntable.fm’s Metalcore/Deathcore/Nintendocore room.

Even though it was on a Sunday night, and I was violently hung over and sleep deprived, I packed my camera gear, put on the tightest pair of black jeans I could find, and drove down to DNA Lounge in San Francisco, California, to see an awesome lineup of bands.

Listen, I have no excuses as to why I didn’t get around to listening to and reviewing this album on a more timely basis. It’s even more baffling when you consider that I thoroughly enjoyed Withered‘s previous efforts, 2005’s Memento Mori and 2008’s critically acclaimed Folie Circulaire (which made my 2008 year end list). I […]

The debut, Memento Mori, from Atlanta’s Withered was a killer Stockholm sounding Doom/Death effort that got unfairly touted as a Mastodon clone due to the geography of the band. Three years later and Withered have returned with a new label and a slightly tweaked sound. But fear not the tweaking is a blacker, sicker, and […]

As hard as Lifeforce is plugging this as Entombed meets Dissection meets Mastodon meets High On Fire, I’m only buying a quarter of their hype; the Swedish death metal quarter. Withered, for all intents, purposes, regardless of origin (Georgia-hence the Mastodon plugs), name dropping and forced label based pigeon holing, stand toe to toe with […]