Review by Shadowdoom9 (Andi) for Withdrawn - A Certain Innate Suffering (1997)

With their EP A Certain Innate Suffering released in 1997, Withdrawn started off as dark sludgy metalcore/hardcore. Adding in some death metal elements that had yet to solidify the metal/deathcore sound of their 1999 album, you can consider this band a mix of Asphyx and Earth Crisis. Those were the days when UK hardcore had the slower metallic vibe of Deviated Instinct.

You can hear a stunning difference between this EP and Seeds of Inhumanity. Here you have a simpler yet brutal experience as there's more heaviness than variation. And this can actually be more of a struggle for modern listeners like myself...

First track "Lifeless" fits well in the song title. Apart from the aggression, there's not much exciting as it just plods along. The 7-minute epic "Serenity" is much better despite the lack of hardcore gang vocals and melodic hooks. What makes this song stand out is thick guitar reverb (different from the album) and the loose drumming (just like the album). Interesting despite the repetition! "Oceans of Darkness" greatly adds the doomy progressiveness that later Dodheimsgard and Green Carnation would have to the metallic hardcore of later bands like Vision of Disorder and Demon Hunter. "Embalmed" is a little too anticlimactic.

Intending to make a dark impact on UK metallic hardcore, the end result was a somewhat poor EP. After this, two of the members left to form their own bands, which would explain the more melodic sound the drummer and the guitarist would make in their album. Still this EP is worth hearing hardcore/metalcore at its darkest....

Favorites: "Serenity", "Oceans of Darkness"