Of Which They Bleed

Upstate New York death metal squad Withered Earth return on Of Which They Bleed with their second album, following a competent but unexceptional debut, Into the Deepest Wounds. Actually, the only really impressive thing about that debut was the drumming — at least, given the high standards that have already been set in this specific subgenre by bands such as Suffocation and Immolation — and the drumming is again impressive here. But the songwriting has improved this time to include quite a few a more memorable riffs and, in a couple of cases, entire songs (opener "The Imperial Tribulation" being one relative highlight, with its recurring main riff). The vocals come across as convincingly angry, at times sounding reminiscent of Suffocation lead throat Frank Mullen. And while not ideal, the semiblurred sound quality (the sign of a black metal influence?) is at least a little bit unusual, and preferable to the excessively clean productions of many other death metal bands circa 2003. However, while Of Which They Bleed is an improvement over Withered Earth's debut, it's still a step away from being the sort of distinctive, standout effort that it will take to vault the band into the elite death metal ranks.