Review: Withdraw ”Trampelpfad” [Running Wild Productions]

Embracing the Leitmotif…

There’s only so many bands popping up with the prospect of twisting your perception about traditional extreme metal in such wicked ways. Withdraw tends to leave you highly intrigued and scratching your head at the same time, which is actually not exactly novel for people who’ve been exposed to this Austrian one-man show before.

But this time, there seems to have been even more confidence and thought distilled into this craft, since mastermind Witege managed to create another bold statement in terms of his quirky insanity, but he’s not sacrificing the quality of the material in terms of guitar riffs, song structures and…yeah, even catchiness any longer! A fair amount of the usual abrasiveness in Witege’s approach has been turned down in favor of quite a few glorious and bold heavy riffs, which are usually more common in rather Swedish forms of death metal mannerisms (recommendations: “Gesenkte Fahnen”, “In Gedanken”, “Abgrund”), now sharing space with the quintessentially eclectic exhibit of Withdraw‘s artistic bat walks.

Though these supplementary influences have been introduced, Witege never leaves behind his trademark theatricality, which feels as deliberate and natural as ever. While the grandiose and dreary fairy-tale-madness of Withdraw‘s interpretation of ye trusty old Struwwelpeter might not be achievable without the aid of long-since-dead authors of a glorified past, Witege’s gloomy and cryptic tales about non-conformity, devilish encounters, and oddly uncomfortable sexual endeavors continue to intensify the emotional impact of the material provided.

The production has been adjusted to the heavier approach, with the lower strings and palm-muted parts having this additional swing of power, frequently seeping through the more traditional, albeit rather melodic tremolo-fanfare that’s still rooted in 90s Scandinavian black metal fundamentals. It manages to strike a particular balance that is old-school enough for the traditionalists but also boasts a solid, vivid body, offering a clarity that allows further compositional details to be discovered with repeated spins. It’s certainly an album you’ll come back to more than once.

Indeed – this is Withdraw‘s best work so far! It might appear a little more streamlined for some, but this previous lack of a red thread was probably what kept me from truly enjoying Witege’s work on purely musical terms and now that it’s finally there, I can only hope for even more precious material in this vein. For extreme metal fans willing to embrace the strange, Trampelpfad is very much a journey worth taking.

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