Deathwhite – Grey Everlasting
Release Date: 10th June 2022
Label: Season of Mist
Bandcamp
Genre: Melodic Death Metal, Dark Melodic Metal, Atmospheric Death Metal, Post Death Metal.
FFO: Katatonia, Woods of Ypres, Paradise Lost, Amorphis, Swallow the Sun.
Review By: Andy Spoon
Season of Mist is one of the most dynamic labels in the metal scene today with acts such as Archspire, Gaerea, Heilung, and Gorguts blowing up the “charts” of the underground metal scene. Next to add their post-pandemic offering for consideration is melodic death/doom project Deathwhite with Grey Everlasting, a title derived from the existential and practical emotions that arose during the last two years of global events. The anonymous line-up celebrates their tenth year as a project in 2022, their latest release considerably moodier and more atmospheric than their previous albums, according to the band’s own description of the project.
The post-metal, atmospheric, tone is dark and somber, giving listeners a buffet of extreme metal influence with the dark and edgy chord structures, while keeping the pace slow and grinding. Much of the album happens between 60 and 100 beats per minute, often in the swinging 6/8 time signature, lulling the listener into a trance with melodic sections enhanced by the keyboard section and clean vocals throughout. The extreme metal influence is abundantly clear, letting fans of black and death metal know where Deathwhite gets their sound, but it is absolutely listenable as a non-extreme-metal album.
The majority of the vocals on the album are clean, forging a slushy vibe that feels slightly like Type O Negative with less of the vampire-themed cringe factor. The lyrical elements are dark and foreboding, taking a great deal of influence from the world events in 2020 to 2021, pointing to the inhumanity and selfishness of many peoples and cultures in such harrowing times. Deathwhite considers this to be the element which makes Grey Everlasting an appropriate title for the record. While they often consider their albums to express dissatisfaction with the state of humanity, they have indicated that the pandemic gave unique meaning to these elements in furtherance of their thematic composition as a band.
The guitars and drums are mixed well, allowing the nuances of each instrument to have dynamic voice in the overall sound. The vocals are layered with harmonies and reverb in choice measures, widening the soundstage and the atmospheric elements. Uncharacteristically, the keys sections, with pads and strings in profusion, are placed a little further back into the mix, preventing any track from dancing over that line into the “symphonic”, probably something done on purpose. Overall, it works well, but there were moments where it could have pushed heavier into the mix to create more dynamic flow. Nevertheless, the sum of the instruments and vocals is a very well-engineered and mastered palette of dark post-metal.
Un-aggressive, somber, and misanthropic, Grey Everlasting is 11 tracks of coherent, musically-heavy post-death that engages in personal and societal commentary while being totally listenable, but sometimes repetitive and maybe even boring. It lacks the extreme metal variation of other post-metal acts such as Tersivel or Rivers of Nihil, almost relegating it to “alternative metal” status in moments. Yet, it is much more than that in its overall tone and execution. While being a paradox of themes and sound, Deathwhite managed to produce a record that is better than it should be, and deserves a concerted effort to understand. 
(3 / 5)
