As we settle as soon as extra into the coldest, darkest, all-around crappiest time of the yr (until you reside in, like, Australia or the Caribbean or one thing, should be good), it appears solely acceptable to immerse oneself in an album that displays the unhappy, grey environs wherein we discover ourselves. The leaves are all gone from the timber, a relentless biting chill fills the air, the mirth and merriment of the vacation season are behind us, and all that lies forward is a pale overcast expanse which appears to go on endlessly. God, I’m truly beginning to depress myself.
I’m a summer season and autumn sort of man, personally, however there may be an undeniably highly effective aesthetic to the wintertime as effectively; it’s desolate and empty, but additionally uniquely elegant and frightfully alluring. A towering snowcapped mountain peak is as majestic as it’s barren and hostile, and Scorched Earth, the model new full-length album from the Austrian post-black steel duo Harakiri for the Sky, completely embodies that sense of duality with its grandiose melodies and heart-wrenching themes of loss and utter hopelessness.
Melancholy has been a defining side of this band since their inception, so it ought to come as no shock that Scorched Earth is positively laden with it. Doom and gloom are the secret, with existential despair blanketing the whole lot like a dense fog and dripping from every word like tar. Ordinarily, this kind of shameless heavy-handedness could be a little bit of a turn-off for me, however this time round I truly discovered it to be fairly endearing, and there are two causes for this.
Initially, the music itself is superbly written and executed, creating a really clean, pure, satisfying stream from starting to finish. The best way that the whole lot slowly builds off of itself and seamlessly transitions into the following phase with out ever feeling pressured or rushed in any means is a testomony to instrumentalist M.S.’s eager ear for subtlety and steadiness, most notably in songs like “With out You I’m Only a Unhappy Music” or my private favourite “No Graves However the Sea”. All the songs use their momentum correctly and infrequently really feel so long as they really are, which is spectacular contemplating that a few them clock in at greater than ten minutes, however these two are notably good examples.
The previous opens with a tragic, tinkling little quantity on the keyboard that makes me assume of a kid’s music field with a tiny plastic ballerina spinning in place in entrance of a bed room window with snow falling thickly exterior, earlier than then launching into a protracted, winding cavalcade of haunting chords and morose melodies pushed alongside by the regular pounding drums and vocalist J.J.’s throat-rending howls. Finally the music comes full circle and ends on the identical quiet, pensive little tune that it began with, making a self-contained, unending loop, which, understanding these guys, is sort of definitely a metaphor or commentary on one thing.
Alternatively, the latter is noticeably extra upbeat and constantly quick paced, simply essentially the most moshable tune on your complete album. Each tracks are notably completely different from one another, however the widespread thread between them is how they all the time take nice care to by no means let any explicit riff or melody overstay its welcome, stretching it out for so long as attainable however by no means to the purpose the place it feels cumbersome or repetitive. The top result’s a clear-cut and effectively outlined sense of id; these guys know precisely who they’re, what they’re about, and what they’re attempting to attain, and what’s extra, they’ve the chops and the expertise to drag it off. For sure, all of that makes a world of distinction regarding the completed product.
The second cause why this album impressed me despite its inherent air of “boo-hoo, woe is me, life is an absurdist tragedy and I’m the doomed, disillusioned protagonist” is, in a phrase, authenticity. I may not relate to it personally, however I imagine them, and I discovered myself wanting to listen to what they needed to say subsequent. The prose in J.J.’s lyrics is each considerate and extremely heartfelt, with strains like “Maybe it was too little too late, we have been already too damaged, too damage, however I need to thanks for a thousand kisses that I can nonetheless really feel on my face” carrying a dreadfully poignant weight. It’s not self-serving or attention-seeking, however slightly it appears like a lived expertise. It feels actual. I imply, who amongst us hasn’t felt the bitter sting of unrequited love or watched a relationship slowly crumble in some unspecified time in the future in our lives? It’s one of many saddest experiences we will have as human beings, sufficient to empty the colour out of the world and make you are feeling like there’s no level in soldiering on. Scorched Earth brilliantly captures that sense of heartbroken hopelessness, however slightly than merely wallowing in it, as an alternative it makes use of these feelings as a catalyst and channels them into one thing profound. Perhaps that’s why I preferred it a lot, as a result of it truly does one thing inventive and purposeful with all of that negativity as an alternative of giving up and permitting it to unfold and devour. Who would have guessed that ache might be the inspiration for a few of the most lovely artworks? Think about that.
Harakiri for the Sky have written an distinctive soundtrack for the frigid depths of midwinter, replete with melancholia and existential battle however pushed ahead by sheer ardour and an incapacity to sit down there and do nothing about it. It’s darkish, miserable, and deeply bitter, but it surely makes essentially the most of what it has simply the identical, refusing to go gently into that good evening and quietly hoping in opposition to hope that issues will get higher sometime. Perhaps they may, perhaps they received’t, who can say? All I do know for sure is that this album is an introspective, darkly lovely journey by way of a spread of advanced feelings that almost all of us would slightly keep away from so as to defend our sanity. It takes braveness to sit down with these sorts of emotions and actually make one thing out of them, however these guys have finished simply that, and the outcomes communicate for themselves.
Scorched Earth premieres Friday, January 24 by way of AOP Data. Pre-order your copy right here
Catch Harakiri for the Sky on the “Shining Over North America” tour alongside Swallow the Solar, Ghost Bathtub, and Snakes of Russia beginning subsequent month.
HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY Tour Dates:
Feb 20 – Detroit, MI – Sanctuary
Feb 21 – Toronto, ON – Velvet Underground
Feb 22 – Montreal, QC – Fouf’s
Feb 23 – Boston, MA – Brighton Music Corridor
Feb 24 – New York, NY – Gramercy Theater
Feb 25 – Baltimore, MD – Baltimore Soundstage
Feb 26 – Greensboro, NC – Hangar 1819
Feb 27 – Atlanta, GA – The Earl
Feb 28 – Orlando, FL – Conduit
Mar 1 – Pensacola, FL – Handlebar
Mar 2 – Houston, TX – Bronze Peacock @ Home of Blues
Mar 3 – Austin, TX – Come And Take It Dwell
Mar 4 – Albuquerque, NM – Launch Pad
Mar 5 – Phoenix, AZ – Insurgent
Mar 6 – San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick
Mar 7 – Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex
Mar 8 – San Francisco, CA – Neck of the Woods
Mar 9 – Portland, OR – Bossanova Ballroom
Mar 10 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
Mar 12 – Salt Lake Metropolis, UT – Metro Music Corridor
Mar 13 – Denver, CO – Bluebird Theater
Mar 14 – Omaha, NE – Reverb
Mar 15 – Chicago, IL – Reggies
