Swedish melodic death metallers This Ending, formerly known as The Plague and A Canorous Quintet are set to release their latest studio effort, titled Dead Harvest in early 2009.

THIS ENDING, the Swedish death metal band featuring AMON AMARTH drummer Fredrik Andersson, will release its second album, Dead Harvest, on January 30, 2009 in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy; and February 2, 2009 in the rest of Europe via Metal Blade Records.

According to a press release, “THIS ENDING continue to deliver their own brand of death metal in grand fashion with Dead Harvest, evolving a dark concept and further distinguishing the band from its contemporary peers. Spanning from heavy riffs and mesmerizing melodies to blast beats and industrial sounds — Dead Harvest has it all.”

The recording of Dead Harvest saw THIS ENDING returning to Offbeat Studio in Stockholm, and after two months of gruelling work, the album was finally done. A number of songs were written for the CD but only 10 were selected to appear on the finished product. However, two songs that were recorded during the Dead Harvest sessions but that didn’t make the final cut will be included on the limited first pressing of the European version of the album.

Commented guitarist Leo Pignon: “The second creation of THIS ENDING plunges you further into the darkness of mankind. Here you will find everything from spellbinding melodies to violent blast beats, all spawned from the maw of the inevitable doomsday machine that is THIS ENDING. Dead Harvest is the soundtrack of a world in downfall, steeped in true death metal and branded with the unique sound of THIS ENDING. So crank up the volume, sit back, and watch the world go down in flames!”

I checked out a few samples on their MySpace and was surprised to hear the material actually isn’t half bad. Not very original, but still… Granted, the samples are from their 2006 release, but that stuff does sound a lot better than Amon Amarth’s latest offering, not that that’s saying much. Might actually be a half decent melodic death metal effort. It’s out in North America on February 3rd.