WITHERING SCORN
“Prophets Of Demise”
Album Review by Iron Mathew

10/10

Withering Scorn are a heavy metal band from Canada formed in 2020, releasing their debut album ‘Prophets Of Demise’ in 2023.

Among the many metal bands the world has to offer, there are also a number of supergroups – defined as “a group formed by musicians already famous from playing in other groups” according to a brief internet search. Groups such as Elegant Weapons, The Three Tremors, Metal Allegiance, Act Of Defiance, Hollywood Vampires and Heaven & Hell to name just a few. And new to the list, comes a new group from Canada, Withering Scorn founded by the brothers Drover, guitarist Glen (ex Megadeth) and drummer Shawn (ex Megadeth, Act Of Defiance), along with bass player Joe DiBiase (ex Fates Warning) and lead vocalist Henning Basse (Metalium, ex Firewind). The combination of these four incredibly talented musicians, has given birth to an uncompromising, unabashed and unashamedly heavy metal album – ‘Prophets Of Demise’ a full on forty minutes of flat out “foot on the monitor” metal!

“no punches pulled, no holds barred” says Shawn with regards to the bands style of heavy metal – and I for one couldn’t agree more! The album is brought to life with the six minute plus title song ‘Prophets Of Demise’. Leading with a tension fuelled first fifty seconds, ‘Prophets Of Demise’ (the song) bursts into life, proceeding to adopt the classic foot on the monitor stance of traditional heavy metal. And with half the band bringing a thrash metal background to the table, ‘Prophets Of Demise’ (the song) is no where near the sound of thrash – rooted right in the middle of the heavy metal genre. But that said, the band are leaning towards the heavier side of the genre, ‘The Vision’ marching on with venomous intent. The opening double salvo from Withering Scorn has been nothing short of sensational, but then what did you expect from such a seasoned array of musicians!

Picking up the pace, ‘Pick Up The Pieces’ is a blistering barrage of highly head bang-able heavy metal, thoroughly infectious and a hundred percent mosh pit friendly. Each band member has already made a lasting impression in heavy metal history, and as a collective they’re writing a brand new chapter – Withering Scorn, remember the name! Better still, go buy a copy of the album and support the band! Your investment will definitely be worth it! Taking on a menacing and fairly chilling vibe, ‘Ancient Desire’s first minute is a little eerie, sending shivers down spines and raising the hairs on the backs of necks! And as ‘Ancient Desire’ gets underway proper, a touch of the mighty anthemic style of metal comes to the fore, the band pounding the ground hard with an immense amount of force – walls shaking and buildings rocking as the band march on by!

The incredible level of intensity the album began with, has simply gotten stronger and stronger as each song passes by, ‘Dark Reflection’ taking the heaviness to new heights, or is that lows, and to infinity, and beyond! And all with a much more menacing and venom loaded vocal delivery too, ‘Prophets Of Demise’ (the album) creaking under the weight of the bands fifty percent thrash metal make-up! Described as a heavy metal band, Withering Scorn are beginning to show signs of thrash creeping over their border wall – and as far I’m concerned, that’s perfectly fine! Heavy metal and thrash are two of my four favourite genres of metal, and to have them both on show here is simply superb. More please Withering Scorn – and more they give me with ‘Dethroned’, the fastest song heard so far! The pace is incredible, vigorously banging the head of every single metalhead everywhere. And with an unbelievably melodious chorus break, the band are on to a winner here, for every listener, fan, follower and concert goer are gonna energetically sing along. Cracking stuff from the Canadian four-piece!

And with a very strong old school feel, ‘Never Again’ warms my heart with the iconic guitar sound of the legendary NWOBHM – and coupled with the bands incredibly heavy approach to heavy metal, ‘Never Again’ is a mouth watering masterpiece! At only three minutes forty seconds in length, it may be the shortest song on offer, but boy the impact it makes is fucking huge! I haven’t stopped head banging since the album began, each and every song worthy of stretching my neck muscles to breaking point. And from the shortest song to the longest song on offer, the final hurrah ‘Eternal Screams’. Clocking in at eight minutes in length, ‘Eternal Screams’ has everything you could ever wish for in a metal epic – an atmospheric and tension filled intro, and a majestic mid tempo thunder stomp with so much reined in power it’s surely gonna break! But nope – Withering Scorn do a monumental job of holding it all in, ‘Eternal Screams’ a perfect ending to a perfect album.

Overall, a melodious march of infectious heavy metal with a tremendously sky high level of head bang ability.

TRACKLIST

Prophets Of Demise
The Vision
Pick Up The Pieces
Ancient Desire
Dark Reflection
Dethroned
Never Again
Eternal Screams

https://www.facebook.com/Witheringscorn

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