WITHERSCAPE, the new atmospheric and progressive dark metal outfit formed by Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer extraordinaire Dan Swanö, together with fellow Swedish multi-instrumentalist Ragnar Widerberg, have confirmed the release of their debut album, The Inheritance, on July 29th in Europe and August 6th in North America, via Century Media Records.

A first musical sample of Witherscape’s intense concept debut album release can now be obtained by checking out the artwork-clip for the album song 'Astrid Falls':

Dan Swanö checked in to comment about the song as follows: "'Astrid Falls' is one of my many favourite songs on the album. It represents the Witherscape sound in a good way. It's showcasing the clean and growling vocal interplay and the overall "vibe" of my and Ragnar’s playing as well as the dynamics of our songwriting.”

Witherscape marks the long overdue return as active composer and recording artist for Dan Swanö in the world of extreme metal, after having mostly been involved on the studio mixing end of things in these past years. Granted, The Inheritance is not purely a death metal release, but it smoothly showcases both the heavier and the mellow sides of Swanö’s creativity and should consequently not only please fans of his earlier efforts like Moontower or the EDGE OF SANITY catalogue, but also attract friends of progressively atmospheric contemporary metal in the vein of OPETH, KATATONIA and AMORPHIS.

According to Swanö, Witherscape has been in planning for a long time, spawned as a result of his working relationship with Widerberg, which began at a Swedish music store. The two multi-instrumentalists discovered that they had so much in common musically that brainstorming for a full-on metal project of their own was the next logical step. Widerberg quotes acts like early JUDAS PRIEST, RUSH, KING CRIMSON and MERCYFUL FATE as far as his inspirations in regards to Witherscape and Swanö elaborates his list to also include Judas Priest (1975-1989), VOIVOD, QUEENSRŸCHE, Rush, MARILLION and Mercyful Fate.

Witherscape’s The Inheritance is the first release under a longterm worldwide recording deal signed between Dan Swanö and Century Media Records earlier this year.

Witherscape lineup:

Dan Swanö – Vocals, Drums und Keyboards

Ragnar Widerberg – Gitarre und Bass

More details on Witherscape’s The Inheritance, which will be released as limited edition Mediabook format (with bonus tracks), standard CD, limited LP and Digital Download, will be revealed in the coming weeks.

More on Witherscape at this location.