Witherscape, the progressive death metal outfit consisting of Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer Dan Swanö (ex-Edge Of Sanity/Bloodbath, Nightingale, etc.) as well as fellow Swedish multi-instrumentalist Ragnar Widerberg, present the first track off their upcoming album, The Northern Sanctuary, which will be released on July 22nd via Century Media Records.

You can now listen to the album's opening track, "Wake Of Infinity" below.

Dan Swanö checked in with the following comment about the song: "“Wake Of Infinity” is a good summary of the evolution of the Witherscape sound. Every corner of our sound has been slightly enhanced towards "more is more" and this track shows off the expansion in every part. The fastest we've ever been, the most melodic we've ever been... it's all here in this track, that we believe is the embodiment of Witherscape 2016."

Following up on the refreshing impact of 2013’s debut album The Inheritance and 2014’s The New Tomorrow EP, The Northern Sanctuary is yet another mesmerizingly dense conceptual album, enhanced by breathtakingly powerful artwork courtesy of Hungarian artist Gyula Havancsák (Nightingale, Destruction, Tyr, etc.), which can be seen below.

Tracklisting:

“Wake Of Infinity”
“In The Eyes Of Idols”
“Rapture Ballet”
“The Examiner”
“Marionette”
“Divinity”
“God Of Ruin”
“The Northern Sanctuary”
“Vila I Frid”

Once more lyrically supported by Paul Kuhr (Novembers Doom), Witherscape continue the storyline launched with the debut album, as Swanö explains: “The theme picks up where we left off with the The New Tomorrow EP. There is a 50 year jump in the time line from the 1st album and the main character Mannen i vitt (The man in white) has purchased the house where all the horror initially happened. He's restored it and rents out rooms to people from the big cities, who are aiming for some peaceful northern Swedish silence. But the entity still haunts the house and Mannen i vitt is possessed by it, so consequently he/it does terrible things to the "patients". Since the house is built on one of the gates to hell, there's a ritual taking place, opening the hellish dimension from where the evil entity once came, so it can go back there…”

Musically, The Northern Sanctuary manages to seamlessly blend the best elements of the band’s 70’s/80’s prog/hard rock and even AOR roots with contemporary, yet always atmospheric and subtle extreme metal. Its infectious catchiness will doubtlessly appeal to the passionate followers of Swanö’s diverse artistic catalogue, but also to fans of bands like Opeth, Amorphis or Symphony X.