RED HARVEST "Sick Transit Gloria Mundi"
Relapse 2002
by Nathan Pearce
Red Harvest call themselves apocalyptic-cyber-metal, and that would be a great description as far as I'm concerned. For those of you that thought Godflesh wasn't black metal enough, or if you wondered what Satyricon would sound like with a heavy dose of industiral metal influences, I'd say you've found your band. Don't let those comparisons fool you, though. Red Harvest isn't simply industrial-black-metal, or, as some say, sci-fi metal.
Sick Transit Gloria Mundi is Red Harvest's follow up to the highly acclaimed Cold Dark Matter. If you were a fan of Cold Dark Matter, be ready for a slight change. Sick Transit Gloria Mundi has a much denser, darker, and clearer production. The brittle guitar sound of classic black metal is now a thing of the past for Red Harvest (along with the primitive production). Programmed bass sounds deep enough to cause involuntary bowel movements combined with amazingly dark vocals from frontman Ofu Kahn make this album more akin to Godflesh or even Rammstien than Mayhem or Emperor. However, the band's attitude and atmosphere have more in common with black metal. Needless to say, you shouldn't go into this album expecting a wave of blastbeats and guitar trills. Red Harvest only represent black metal in spririt.
Album opener "U.G.X" emits some of the deep bass effects described above, only to quickly erupt into "AEP". The first lines of the album go something like this "Last chance to evacuate the Earth, it's gonna be recycled . . . ." Red Harvest is the band that will be playing at one of those dirty, rusted-out clubs in the cities sewer-district sometime in the future when the Earth has been demolished by nuclear war, and the human race has taken to the streets. Violence, hatred, and Red Harvest are all we will have.
OK, maybe I am getting a little too involved in what this band has so clearly and brilliantly accomplished with their sound and atmosphere. But, for those of you that think black metal is moving away from the black (Mayhem, Arcturus, etc.), Red Harvest is a refreshing return to the deep, dark, and coroded.
Relapse 2002
by Nathan Pearce
Red Harvest call themselves apocalyptic-cyber-metal, and that would be a great description as far as I'm concerned. For those of you that thought Godflesh wasn't black metal enough, or if you wondered what Satyricon would sound like with a heavy dose of industiral metal influences, I'd say you've found your band. Don't let those comparisons fool you, though. Red Harvest isn't simply industrial-black-metal, or, as some say, sci-fi metal.
Sick Transit Gloria Mundi is Red Harvest's follow up to the highly acclaimed Cold Dark Matter. If you were a fan of Cold Dark Matter, be ready for a slight change. Sick Transit Gloria Mundi has a much denser, darker, and clearer production. The brittle guitar sound of classic black metal is now a thing of the past for Red Harvest (along with the primitive production). Programmed bass sounds deep enough to cause involuntary bowel movements combined with amazingly dark vocals from frontman Ofu Kahn make this album more akin to Godflesh or even Rammstien than Mayhem or Emperor. However, the band's attitude and atmosphere have more in common with black metal. Needless to say, you shouldn't go into this album expecting a wave of blastbeats and guitar trills. Red Harvest only represent black metal in spririt.
Album opener "U.G.X" emits some of the deep bass effects described above, only to quickly erupt into "AEP". The first lines of the album go something like this "Last chance to evacuate the Earth, it's gonna be recycled . . . ." Red Harvest is the band that will be playing at one of those dirty, rusted-out clubs in the cities sewer-district sometime in the future when the Earth has been demolished by nuclear war, and the human race has taken to the streets. Violence, hatred, and Red Harvest are all we will have.
OK, maybe I am getting a little too involved in what this band has so clearly and brilliantly accomplished with their sound and atmosphere. But, for those of you that think black metal is moving away from the black (Mayhem, Arcturus, etc.), Red Harvest is a refreshing return to the deep, dark, and coroded.