Harakiri for the Sky‘s latest piece Maere left quite a splash over here back in 2021. Even if some of the crew had reservations about the piece. Since then, much water flowed under the bridge and the RMR crew remained stuck in this endless waiting loop.
Albeit that J.J.1 here famously appeared on Weltenbrandt’s unwieldily named Transzendenz Schatten Romantik and Ellende’s Ellenbogengesellschaft. To sweeten our waiting time, I reckon. As an aside, I am unsure if you smoked it. Many of these players in these specific murky metal waters seem to have fallen for the mystique of two-character artist names. Funny practice, that.
To drive the above point home some more, the duo M.S.2 and J.J. finally reappeared on our roster with their newest concoction Scorched Earth. If anything, Harakiri for the Sky deftly centered their new-found style on doom, gloom, and melancholy. Case in point, J.J.‘s contribution to fame now firmly lies with this merciless hardcore-ish roar that monotonously and ferociously attacks your eardrums at every bend of this album’s tortuous path. I mean, the guy screams his lungs out trying to imprint the record’s yarn of desperation and tribulation onto your frontal lobe. A continuous screamy fit that even the short-lived contribution of Serena Cherry (Svalbard) on Too Late for Goodbyes could not soften up. Boy, even M.S. tried his part on the slightly off-kilter Street Spirit (Fade Out). But to no avail.
Now, all that ruthless hollering about Scorched Earth positively screams for a proper instrumental response. And sure enough, never underestimate M.S. and his considerable musical prowess. First of all, the RMR crew detected a certain rapprochement toward the Forest Metal folks. Bands often dwelling in Austria and around Germany’s Bavaria enjoying the mystique of their wild and often saga-ridden lands. And I reckon it is no mistake that J.J. famously appeared on the aforementioned Ellende‘s and Weltenbrandt‘s latest pieces. After all, Harakiri for the Sky hail from Austria, too. Case in point, whenever the RMR crew powered up Scorched Earth yet again, the damned intro of the latter’s latest record started to bounce around this reviewer’s head. Constantly so.
So, what has M.S.’s riposte been then? First with a mix of blackened doom, intrusions into Post Black Metal with a ton of melodics and atmospherics to boot. This led to thunderous displays of the (in)famous wall of sound in a pretty much continuous setting. But make no mistake, while other bands kill their piece with an overuse of the dreaded compressors, this band won’t lose elements. It is an art to create these powerful, cathedral soundscapes in metaldom without screwing the pooch in the process. Scorched Earth thus displays next-level mastery of this raucous and stentorian way of presenting your music.
Blackened riffs and heavy chugs, pretty acid yet still often astonishingly melodic leads, followed by blast-ridden drum work that will make your walls tremble.3 This is Socrched Earth‘s instrumental bread and butter, neatly broken up by ambients on acoustic guitars or – again – the odd piano lick. And sometimes some jazzy jibe or short-lived proggy musings find their way into the mix. But – unfortunately – the record truly suffers from the repetition bug. A severe use of the dreaded carving knife to shave a few minutes off the 67-minute airtime would have worked wonders. Having said that, we wouldn’t want to belittle the already remarkable effort by the band to reduce playtime by a whopping 17 minutes over the last record.
In the end, Scorched Earth‘s new-found direction toward a more powerful doom style truly suits the band well. The RMR crew found a refined and ferociously powerful new record on our roster. One that won’t deny the past but looks to further Harakiri For The Sky‘s portfolio with yet another stepping stone to blackened doom nirvana.
Recommended.
Record Rating: 7/10 | Label: AOP Records | Web: Official Band Site
Release Date: 24 January 2024