The Portland, Oregon band Withered Winds comes in hot with their self-titled debut EP Withered Winds. The duo, consisting of Andy Ramirez (guitar) and Ruben Bustillos (drums), is right at home in the post-rock genre, while influences like metal and noise rock give their music an energetic edge. These influences allow for the typical post-rock dynamic highs and lows to be even more intense. And there are plenty of highs and lows on this three-track EP, due to an average song length of nine minutes. Despite a minor issue with song structure, Withered Winds' EP is an engaging work of post-rock music.
The roughly eight-minute opener “At This Very Moment” is high energy right out of the gate. Feedback screeches as mid-tempo head banging drums and guitar play. The song’s second movement highlights their metal influences with heavily distorted palm-muting. The drums are off the charts here, as Bustillos is working in most of the kit in his beat. The song moves then into a more typical, quieter, post-rock groove. This pattern continues, with slight variations, throughout the remainder of “At This Very Moment.” “Wait For the Cold” is a much more subdued track, spending much of its nine-minute run time in a chilled-out guitar groove, heavy on the reverb and delay. This one does pick up eventually, with a wall of distortion and feedback that leads into a guitar lick that is satisfyingly repetitious. A sprawling tremolo picking guitar drives the song to its conclusion. The closer “Death Gives Meaning to Life” is Withered Winds most metal, rock-your-socks-off, sludgy, disgusting song. The rhythm guitar’s distortion is sharp as a knife while the lead guitar plays a thrash-like tremolo picking solo. The song’s outro uniquely features an eerie acoustic piano that works perfectly with the dark atmosphere of the track. It is easy to get enthralled by the songs on this EP because they are continually shifting. While it’s not this simple, these shifts are mostly the songs getting louder then quieter and repeating that cycle. By only the middle of the first song, it was a predictable pattern, and I had a growing desire for something more. With that note aside, Withered Winds self-titled EP is technically engaging and full of emotional energy, which is heightened by noise rock and metal influences.
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