Folie Circulaire (CD - 2008)

Atlanta's Withered play black metal that's been colored by a grind/crust punk past, leaving it jagged and splintery in ways many of their contemporaries would envy. FOLIE CIRCULAIRE is a huge, assaultive piece of music, all tortured demonic growls and sheets of black rain guitars. Six-minute-plus epics like "Reveal the Essence of Suffering" have grindcore's speedy intensity, but with the suffocating atmosphere of the best European black metal. More aggressive and less depressed than most U.S. practitioners, Withered leaves room for rolling, thrashy workouts like "Clamor Beneath" among the doom-laden detritus. minimize