INHERITANCE

Witherscape is a new name on the progressive metal scene, but its members are rather seasoned, especially the vocalist/drummer/keyboardist (yes, all three), Dan Swano. He decided to collaborate with the guitarist/bassist Ragnar Widerberg to craft a new prog metal experience, and "The Inheritance" is what came out of that. I have been fairly impressed with the results, as it does seem to have some unique properties.

It's not often that we get a prog metal band with all the heavy trappings that also features some great synth. Illusion Suite did this earlier this year, and I hope this is a trend because a neo- prog style synth sounds great with heavy riffing. It really cuts through the dense atmosphere and you can literally feel your nervous system respond immediately. Again and again, right when the atmosphere gets a little too much, the synth slices in to make the track stand head and shoulders above the ones that don't have it. "Crawling from Validity", "Astrid Falls", and "The Inheritance" all feature some great synth that makes them my favorites on the album. The synth, however, lasts for a very short time, unfortunately.

Other than that, this band and album are pretty standard. The guitar is excellently heavy, while the drums and bass are average really. Swano has a great clean voice that is deep and steady, but he insists on performing death metal vox, too, which I don't like as much. It isn't horrible, but it isn't anything original either. Though, I must admit that you don't often hear this much harsh vox outside of a more extreme prog metal.

The album's theme revolves around a man that receives an inheritance in the form of a strange mansion where all sorts of weird things happen. It's a strange, horror movie-like theme, but it really doesn't affect me that much emotionally. I'm rather oblivious to it. In general, "The Inheritance" is an album that panders to metalheads, but never really does anything extraordinary outside of some short, but great, synth passages. I've heard this all before, even though it is done well. This, therefore, is a good album that will please metal fans, but prog metal fans may be a bit jaded by it.