Ragnar Widerberg

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WITHERSCAPE: Announce New Album “The Northern Sanctuary”, Artwork Unveiled

Posted by tarjavirmakari on May 16, 2016
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

WITHERSCAPE

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, have announced the worldwide release of their sophomore full-length album “The Northern Sanctuary” for July 22nd, 2016 via Century Media Records.

Following up on the refreshing impact of 2013’s much acclaimed debut album “The Inheritance” (“Album of the month” by Germany’s Rock Hard magazine and position # 97 in the official German sales charts) and 2014’s complimentary “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 / http://www.hjules.com (Nightingale, Destruction, Tyr, etc.), which can be seen above.

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/Hardrock 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.

Look out for further album details and first song samples for “The Northern Sanctuary” to be revealed soon…

Witherscape-The-Northern-Sanctuary

But in the meantime you can check back on music from the previous WITHERSCAPE releases:

“Dead For A Day” lyric video: youtube.com

“The Math Of The Myth” song stream: Soundcloud
“The New Tomorrow” song stream: Soundcloud
“Astrid Falls” song stream: youtube.com
In related Swanö news, look out for a special festival appearance by his Progressive Rock group NIGHTINGALE this very weekend at Rock Hard Festival in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. NIGHTINGALE will perform on Sunday, May 15th between 2:05 – 2:50 PM and will also have a signing session between 3:30 – 4:15 PM. More details here: http://www.rockhardfestival.de

Also, don’t forget to check out the “complete works” collection with 40+ tracks by Swanö’s former brutal US-style Death Metal project INFESTDEAD released last week as “Satanic Serenades” on 2CD, 2LP and Digital Download via Century Media Records.

Two songs from INFESTDEAD’s “Satanic Serenades” can be heard here:
“Re-Resurrection” (from “JesuSatan” album): youtube.com
“Angeldemon” (from “Hellfuck” album): youtube.com

Visit CM Distro for copies of the release in your format of choice: CMDistro

WITHERSCAPE Line-Up:
Dan Swanö – Vocals, Keyboards and Drums
Ragnar Widerberg – Guitars and Bass

WITHERSCAPE Discography:
The Inheritance – 2013
The New Tomorrow – EP 2014
The Northern Sanctuary – 2016

WITHERSCAPE Online:
witherscape.com
facebook.com
danswano.com

WITHERSCAPE: New EP “The New Tomorrow” Out Now, Title-Track Unveiled

Posted by tarjavirmakari on December 8, 2014
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

WITHERSCAPE

WITHERSCAPE, the stunning dark metal outfit formed by Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer extraordinaire Dan Swanö (ex Edge Of Sanity/Bloodbath, Nightingale, etc.) together with fellow Swedish multi-instrumentalist Ragnar Widerberg, have released their new EP “The New Tomorrow” via Century Media Records.

Succeeding last year’s acclaimed debut album “The Inheritance”, which was voted “album of the month” by Germany’s Rock Hard magazine and also entered the official sales charts in Germany on position # 97 upon release, the new EP marks a conceptual and musical bridge between the thick concept of the debut and their upcoming sophomore album, expected for a late 2015 release.

The title track for the EP release, “The New Tomorrow”, is now also streaming promotionally here:

https://soundcloud.com/centurymedia/witherscape-the-new-tomorrow/s-Lwp2p

WITHERSCAPE’s Dan Swanö checked in as follows about the track: “Me and Ragnar got together in December 2013 to do some song writing. And once we entered our positions, me behind the drum kit with a microphone and Ragnar riffing away on his Strat, “The New Tomorrow” just flowed out of us in minutes. It starts with a flashback from the track “The Inheritance” to clearly state that this song is an essential part in linking the first and the upcoming second album, both musically and lyrically.”

Here is the complete tracklisting of the EP:

WITHERSCAPE – “The New Tomorrow” EP:
1. The New Tomorrow (4:42)
2. Defenders Of Creation (4:27)
3. A World Without Heroes (2:36)
4. Out In The Cold (6:35)
5. Dead For Another Day (4:40)

witherscape-ep-cover

“The New Tomorrow” contains 5 unreleased songs: A brand new (title) track, 3 cover songs (“Defenders Of Creation” by Warrior, “A World Without Heroes” by Kiss and “Out In The Cold” by Judas Priest) and “Dead For Another Day” (an extension of the debut album’s “Dead For A Day” single). Its CD version (10 tracks) will also include special vinyl-mix versions of the same songs as bonus and the Digital Download version (7 tracks) includes another 2 bonus cover songs (“A Cry For Everyone” by Gentle Giant and “Last Rose Of Summer” by Judas Priest) from the sessions of “The Inheritance”, which are so far digitally unreleased. The 12″ vinyl version of the EP is playable on 45rpm, will be pressed on 180 gr. vinyl and comes either as standard black edition or in the following limited coloured options: Gold (100x, via CM Distro Europe), Transparent Red (200x, via CM Distro Europe) or Neon Orange (100x, via CM Distro USA).

The EP as well as the WITHERSCAPE debut album, “The Inheritance”, can be ordered from CM Distro here: smarturl.it/tntCMDISTRO

Or otherwise from these following locations:
smarturl.it/tntITUNES
smarturl.it/tntAMAZON
smarturl.it/tntAMAZONMP3

WITHERSCAPE online links for “The Inheritance”:
“Dead For A Day” lyric video: youtube.com/DeadForADay
“Astrid Falls” song stream: youtube.com/AstridFalls
“The Math Of The Myth” song stream: soundcloud.com/TheMathOfTheMyth
Introductory interview with Dan Swanö: youtube.com/Interview
Track-by-track with Dan Swanö: youtube.com/TrackByTrack
Bonus-track-by-track with Dan Swanö: youtube.com/BonusTrackByTrack
Re-Mix CD-Enhancement explanation by Dan Swanö: youtube.com/Explanation

WITHERSCAPE Line-Up:
Dan Swanö – Vocals, Drums and Keyboards
Ragnar Widerberg – Guitars and Bass

WITHERSCAPE Discography:
The Inheritance – 2013
The New Tomorrow – EP 2014

WITHERSCAPE: “The Inheritance” Enters Charts In Germany; New Song & Track-By-Track Video Online

Posted by Stargazer on August 9, 2013
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

WITHERSCAPE, the stunning new dark metal outfit formed by Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer extraordinaire Dan Swanö (ex Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath, Nightingale, etc.) together with fellow Swedish multi-instrumentalist Ragnar Widerberg, have now released their debut album “The Inheritance” all over the world via Century Media Records. The album just entered the official sales charts in Germany on position # 97. Congratulations! Yet another taste of the album can be experienced by checking out the newly launched song “The Math Of The Myth“ on Century Media’s Soundcloud page.

A highly entertaining track-by-track video feature with Dan Swanö breaking down the song-content of “The Inheritance” for you can be seen below:

And here is a “bonus feature” of Dan Swanö commenting on the two special cover songs (“Last Rose Of Summer” by Judas Priest and “A Cry For Everyone” by Gentle Giant) featured on the limited edition Mediabook CD format of “The Inheritance”:

Also, check out Dan Swanö explaining the ”re-mix” CD enhancement section featured on “The Inheritance”:

WITHERSCAPE’s debut album is available in the following standard track-listing:

 

WITHERSCAPE – “The Inheritance”:
1. Mother Of The Soul
2. Astrid Falls
3. Dead For A Day
4. Dying For The Sun
5. To The Calling Of Blood And Dreams
6 .The Math Of The Myth
7. Crawling From Validity
8 .The Wedlock Observation
9. The Inheritance

Additionally to the standard jewel case CD and the digital download version, “The Inheritance” is also available as limited edition Mediabook CD including two bonus tracks as well extended artwork with a 32-pages booklet featuring the full short story concept for this album and also as LP (plus full album on CD as bonus).

WITHERSCAPE

WITHERSCAPE: “The Inheritance” Out Now In Europe; “Album of the month” In Germany’s Rock Hard

Posted by Stargazer on July 29, 2013
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

WITHERSCAPE, the stunning new dark metal outfit formed by Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer extraordinaire Dan Swanö together with fellow Swedish multi-instrumentalist Ragnar Widerberg, is releasing their debut album “The Inheritance” NOW in Europe.

Here are the exact release dates by country:

GERMANY / AUSTRIA / SWITZERLAND / FINLAND / NORWAY / AUSTRALIA / NEW ZEALAND: Friday, July 26, 2013.
UK / BENELUX / FRANCE / GREECE / DENMARK / PORTUGAL / REST OF EUROPE: Monday, July 29, 2013.
SPAIN / ITALY: Tuesday, July 30, 2013.
SWEDEN / HUNGARY: Wednesday, July 31, 2013.

North American release date for “The Inheritance” is August 6th, 2013.

“The Inheritance” is receiving amazing press feedback and has amongst others scored the “Album of the month” honors in the current issue of Germany’s Rock Hard magazine with a fantastic 9,5 out of 10 points review. The album also came in on soundcheck position # 2 in The Netherlands’ Aardschok magazine with a 80 out of 100 points review, position # 4 in Germany’s Legacy magazine with a 14 out of 15 points review and position # 8 in Germany’s Metal Hammer magazine with a 5 out of 7 points review.

In the light of the release, WITHERSCAPE’s Dan Swanö has checked in with a comment as follows:

“Hey everyone…“The Inheritance” is being released now at last and we are super excited about it! The reactions from media and people who heard the album so far were really fantastic and also very encouraging for me and Ragnar as the composers. Thanks for that! I have also now launched a quick video in order to explain the enhancement section featured on the CD…check it out in case you were wondering ;-)”

Here is a link to view Dan Swanö explaining the content and background of the CD enhancement section featured on “The Inheritance”:

WITHERSCAPE’s debut album is available in the following standard tracklisting:

WITHERSCAPE – “The Inheritance”:
1. Mother Of The Soul
2. Astrid Falls
3. Dead For A Day
4. Dying For The Sun
5. To The Calling Of Blood And Dreams
6 .The Math Of The Myth
7. Crawling From Validity
8 .The Wedlock Observation
9. The Inheritance

Additionally to the standard jewel case CD and the digital download version, “The Inheritance” will also be available as limited edition Media book CD including two special bonus tracks as well extended artwork with a 32-pages booklet featuring the full short story concept for this album and also as LP (plus full album on CD as bonus). The 2 bonus tracks cover versions are the following:

10. Last Rose Of Summer (Judas Priest cover version)
11. A Cry For Everyone (Gentle Giant cover version)

All physical formats of WITHERSCAPES’s “The Inheritance” album (Including a shirt/cd bundle offer) can be purchased from CM Distro in Europe here: http://www.cmdistro.de/Artist/Witherscape/1711
Another WITHERSCAPE album song, “Astrid Falls”, can be heard here:

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 or Amorphis.

WITHERSCAPE Line-Up:

Dan Swanö – Vocals, Drums and Keyboards
Ragnar Widerberg – Guitars and Bass

 

WITHERSCAPE – Reveal “The Inheritance”

 

WITHERSCAPE: New Track “Dead For A Day” Launched Via Lyric-Video; Online Pre-Order Links Available

Posted by tarjavirmakari on July 3, 2013
Posted in: News. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

According to Century Media Records, WITHERSCAPE, the stunning new dark metal outfit formed by Swedish singer, multi-instrumentalist and producer extraordinaire Dan Swanö together with fellow Swedish multi-instrumentalist Ragnar Widerberg, will soon be releasing their debut album “The Inheritance” on July 29th, 2013 in Europe and August 6th, 2013 in North America via Century Media Records.

In order to further introduce the qualities of “The Inheritance”, WITHERSCAPE are now launching a lyric-video for the album song “Dead For A Day”, presented to you courtesy of Germany’s Rock Hard magazine here: www.rockhard.de
WITHERSCAPE

Dan Swanö checked in to comment on “Dead For A Day” as follows: “Dead For A Day” is one of those songs that just wrote itself. I was strumming on the acoustic guitar one morning and it just poured out of my fingers. At first I had no idea what to do with the song since I felt it was perhaps a bit too commercial for WITHERSCAPE, but after I played the demo to Ragnar he insisted that it must be on the album! I love how the song moves between the mellow verses à la “Crimson I & II” to the more brutal, yet melodic chorus, in the tradition of “Uncreation” and “Twilight” through the groovy but “undanceable” 9/8 section that leads to one of Ragnar’s best guitar leads of the album.”

Also check out the WITHERSCAPE song “Astrid Falls” here:

http://youtu.be/EwsLxPBknOk

A comprehensive interview with WITHERSCAPE mastermind Dan Swanö about WITHERSCAPE can be seen here:

http://youtu.be/jZjrYzT9_jU

WITHERSCAPE’s debut album will be available in the following standard tracklisting:

WITHERSCAPE – “The Inheritance”:
1. Mother Of The Soul
2. Astrid Falls
3. Dead For A Day
4. Dying For The Sun
5. To The Calling Of Blood And Dreams
6 .The Math Of The Myth
7. Crawling From Validity
8 .The Wedlock Observation
9. The Inheritance

WITHERSCAPE – Reveal “The Inheritance”

Additionally to the standard jewel case CD and the digital download version, “The Inheritance” will also be available as limited edition Mediabook CD including two special bonus tracks as well extended artwork with a 32-pages booklet featuring the full shortstory concept for this album and also as LP (plus full album on CD as bonus). The 2 bonus tracks cover versions are the following:

10. Last Rose Of Summer (Judas Priest cover version)
11. A Cry For Everyone (Gentle Giant cover version)

All physical formats of WITHERSCAPES’s “The Inheritance” album (Including a shirt/cd bundle offer) can now be pre-ordered from CM Distro in Europe HERE!

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 or Amorphis.

WITHERSCAPE’s “The Inheritance”, which comes packaged in artwork by Travis Smith / Seempieces (Opeth, Nevermore, Death, Katatonia, etc.), is the first release under a longterm worldwide recording deal signed between Dan Swanö and Century Media Records earlier this year.

WITHERSCAPE Line-Up:
Dan Swanö – Vocals, Drums and Keyboards
Ragnar Widerberg – Guitars and Bass

More details on WITHERSCAPE’s “The Inheritance” will be revealed in the coming weeks…

WITHERSCAPE online:
www.witherscape.com
www.danswano.com
www.facebook.com
www.unisound.se – See more at: http://www.centurymedia.com/newsdetailed.aspx?IdNews=13064&IdCompany=3#sthash.gDcLOMVl.dpuf