In the '90s and early 2000s, Gothenburg, Sweden, was considered a hotbed of underground Scandinavian death metal and black metal bands. Countless extreme metal outfits have come out of that Nordic city, including Within Y, whose blistering, harsh work is best described as death metal/black metal with a touch of hardcore and metalcore. Within Y isn't grindcore; while true grindcore bands play at an ultra-fast tempo continuously and offer little or nothing in the way of melody, Within Y favors a lot of tempo changes and has some sense of melody. Nonetheless, the Gothenburg residents are quite ferocious, and some of that ferocity comes from the vocals. Andreas Solveström, Within Y's lead vocalist, is a manic, crazed screamer who believes in going right for the jugular. Solveström's extreme vocal style isn't the sort of deep, guttural, satanic-style growl that is quite prevalent in death metal, black metal, and grindcore; rather, he favors the type of merciless screaming one expects from a metalcore crew like Brick Bath, Hatebreed, or Throwdown. And like most Swedish metal artists, Within Y's members write in English exclusively even though they come from a country where Swedish, not English, is the primary language. Within Y was formed in February 2002, when Solveström got together with two Swedish guitarists: Nikke Almen and Mikael Nordin. In March of that year, drummer Thim Blom came into the fold; Blom had been a member of Gardenian, a Swedish death metal/black metal band led by former In Flames guitarist Niklas Engelin. Subsequently, Matte Wänerstam became Within Y's official bassist. During the summer of 2002, Within Y recorded a four-song demo titled Feeble and Weak, which received some reviews in various metal-oriented publications. In 2003 the Swedes recorded their first official full-length album, Extended Mental Dimensions, which was released on Hammerheart Records (a small Dutch label) in Europe before coming out in the United States on the Candlelight label in March 2004. ~ Alex Henderson