A Greater Darkness

Red Harvest's 'A Greater Darkness' fulfills the old musical adage that substance trumps technicality, as it showcases a wide range of moods and compositional directions, albeit of the darker kind, with a depth in atmosphere that requires no superfluous musicianship. It bears that recognizable Scandinavian simplicity, nearly minimalist in spirit, fostering efficient functionality and concision over ostentatious demonstrations of flashy fret work and overproduced sound.

The riffs are simple, very simple, but subject the listener to grooves tectonic in magnitude that force a rekindled appreciation for minimal note distribution and rudimentary song-writing. Because the sections are so simple, they can focus on sheer, concentrated intensity the whole way and produce nothing but climactic energy that's only as contagious as it is striking. A quick listen to the first track 'Antidote' with its 3-note opening riff provides a glimpse into the sort of ominous and hostile universe the album inhabits. As heard on this track, the band manages to regularly chain up ensuing parts that either keep the intensity flowing or add more impetus yet, still in its characteristic plainness. The choruses are also powerfully dark and atmospheric (best example: 'Antidote') and the lyrics are more of the introspective kind, and rather compelling in places. They generally go well with the daunting feel of the music and can really be effective as the words ring along with the roaring guitars.

The guitar work for a major part consists of aggressively picked, palm-muted tremolo picking, with a release in energy on the wider suspended power chords or open string baritone single-note dirges. The leads are kept to the barest minimum and are replaced by arrangements, either produced by guitar noise or added coarse-sounding electronic samples emphasizing the thick, scruffy sound of the record. The vocals contribute in the foreground basically the same sonic violence the guitars do in the background, and they can be seen philosophically as an extension of the guitars' distortion imitated by human vocal chords and transferred at the center of the mix.

There's a plethora of influences at play here: black metal, sludgy, doom, industrial, death metal, groove or other minor traces, but all influences converge to serve the central objective of the record, that is depicting a dead world that's hopeless and past any point of possible redemption. Its bleak, post-apocalyptic demeanor doesn't ever come across as edgy or melodramatic, instead it feels like it's got a point and is drawing critically close to a place of real danger stored somewhere in the human mind, like it's stimulating whatever hemisphere is responsible for identifying threats. The music sounds exactly like that: threatening and keeps the listener on alert, like danger is imminent. This is due in part to the immediate psycho-acoustic effect of acute dissonance, which the album has a lot of, as well as the tri-tone discordance often employed in the guitar parts.

Moreover, the industrial influence is only slight early on, until the album reaches the quieter drony 'Beyond The Limits Of Physical Experience', based entirely on two bass note changes. Again, the music can only be described as unsettling and although it lacks the distortion guitar violence of the surrounding tracks, it feels eminently menacing. Instrumental track 'War Themes' feels like a homage to old Ministry, only a tad darker, and it's quite excellent and just oozes with the album's atmosphere. The closer 'Proprioception', as might be expected on this type of release, is a short instrumental (noise industrial, still weird) bidding farewell to the audience - which might need to give their mom a call at this point or watch a few funny memes on their phones to momentarily shake off the existential malaise that's been brewing too vividly in their entire being over the last 50 something minutes.

The relative oblivion this album dwells in, not just thematically but in terms of popularity, might be explained by how the band generally don't give a damn about who might pick this up. Nothing about it feels manufactured or makes it an intentionally tempting listen: there's a 10 min plus song, the tracks include elements of but don't cater entirely to industrial, black and groove metal notably. It shows off no technical prowess that may attract musically curious fans, the production is good enough that this is listenable and enjoyable but at no point sounds impressive (at a time in 2007 when metal bands were sounding all kinds of overproduced and polished). So they did their own thing, for themselves, and they're obviously very talented but ended up being a niche band.

This is the swansong for Red Harvest…wait, they’re active again? Well, damn. Still, it’s been nearly a decade since their last full-length album A Greater Darkness, and I must admit that this is a pretty good offering. It doesn’t exactly break new ground that they have been carving since Cold Dark Matter, but it’s more like a summation of all that is good with this band.

For those not in the know, Red Harvest began life as a thrash band of all things, but very quickly turned into an industrial metal band and have been on that path ever since. 1996 was their pinnacle, personally, with HyBreed having an industrial/tribal feel with tons of melody and long, repetitive songs that hypnotically engage the listener. They have still been a good band since, and A Greater Darkness is perhaps their next best, although that can be debated depending on the weather and how much breakfast I’ve eaten in the morning. All the elements are here including the simple riffs, robotic drumming, and awesome vocals, both growled and spoken. And the industrial elements really tie it all together, making the listener picture a dystopia of circuits and machines. This powerful imagery is enough to give this album a positive score, since Red Harvest have managed to musically convey their ideas to aplomb.

The songs themselves are pretty great, though. “Hole in Me” has a cool ending that seems to ascend to a nice build-up finale. “Dead Cities” is a shorter, faster song which works well after the previous two longer openers. In true industrial metal fashion, there are three songs that heavily focus on the industrialised nature of their music. “Beyond the Limits of Physical Xperience” and “WarThemes” both have recurring industrial beats that take up the main meat of their runtime. I like them both but tend to favour the latter due to its more aggressive nature and a surprising ending. Of course, that song leads into my favourite track on the whole thing in “Distorted Eyes” – a 10 minute mammoth track that is basically split into two even parts: first section is mid-paced melodic riffing with cleaner vocals and a harsh chorus, only for the second section to bring in double kick and the best riff on the whole damn album. “Proprioception” ends proceedings on an industrial note but it’s basically a cool-down from the awesomeness you have endured from “Distorted Eyes.” If you only hear one song from this, make it that one.

Despite this being late in their career, A Greater Darkness still feels fresh and high-energy. The band still had the chops to deliver their music with verve, and it shows through their songs. I will admit that the speed has slightly decreased from previous albums such as Sick Transit Gloria Mundi, but the dynamism certainly isn’t lacking. The riffs are top-quality, supported by an excellent industrial background (or foreground, depending on the song), the drumming is mid-paced and can even go as simple as rock beats in places, but without losing any vitality, and the vocals are fantastic. The growls are legible and the cleans (not the falsetto type, don’t worry!) are put in all the right places. “Distorted Eyes” is easily the best song here, but the whole album is full of interesting music, and any fan of industrial music with some edge to it should check this out.

I'm new to hearing industrial/electronic type of metal... But this release has gotten me hooked! At first, my impression was that I could never really get into these styles. Though now I know I'm wrong about that! 'A Greater Darkness' explores many different changes throughout the entire album. From the beginning, it represents a more death metal influenced type of sound. But wholly on this album the atmosphere is grim and filled with many different tempo changes. I'm not much into the electronic type of songs but I am still giving it a chance for me to get used to.

I haven't heard their previous releases... Though they've been around since 1989! Pretty damn amazing to me. I just heard about this band by a friend who's not into mainstream type of stuff. I'm not either really nor is this band.

Their writing style is kind of weird...some songs are pretty heavy with like I mentioned a more type of death metal sound to them. But then they linger into a more industrial type of reflection. The vocals vary from heavy throat to a more eerie tone. Pretty interesting. The guitars especially on 'Antidote' are brutal then there's fluctuations between that and the industrial sound. All of the tracks to me are good but just plain eccentric.

They sing about the apocalypse, technology, and hate. It's not mindless Satanic stuff that other bands sing about. Their songs are well thought out. I'm more motivated now to actually purchase their older material. I've heard some...it's a little different than 'A Greater Darkness' but for the most part really good sounding.

The riffs here are unique in that they are slow at times but pretty catchy. Especially the first song that I mentioned 'Antidote'. Wholly different type of work! There really aren't any solos just mainly rhythms... That to me is OK but I would just like to have heard some leads. I suppose they just wanted to focus more on the rhythm guitars.

Some songs are totally electronic which is an acquired taste to like I suppose. They mix it with a few songs yet others are only electronic. For the most part, they're mixed. I kind of admire this because like I mentioned it's not just one genre they're attacking it's a few throughout this entire album. Do yourself a favor and pick up this unique release!

Red Harvest is a Norwegian band that’s been around since the late 80s and although the early stuff was pretty primitive thrash metal, it was with 2000's Cold Dark Matter that the band began to attain some recognition. The band started mixing in elements of industrial and electronic music to their thrash metal attack and have over the years become a powerful and intense outfit.

Last year’s A Greater Darkness saw the band finally attain some widespread recognition in the metal underworld, and listening to the album it’s not hard to see why. Over the last few albums, mainly the awesome Sick Transit Gloria Mundi and Internal Punishment Programs, the band has eased up on the claustrophobic industrial side just a little bit and allowed the music more room to breathe and create atmosphere. That progression continues on A Greater Darkness with the band relying more than ever on building and sustaining a dark cold atmosphere through the album.

While early influences may have been the thrash of Voivod and the industrial crunch of Godflesh, A Greater Darkness sees the band slowing down and adding elements of post metal ala Neurosis and some riffing that seems inspired by the black metal of their fellow countrymen.

Stand out tracks include the moody Hole in Me, the bombastic electro-martial sweep of Warthemes which brings Laibach to mind, and the superb I Sweat W.O.M.D. with its angular riffing and slowed down grooves. At the same time, there isn’t really a bad song on this album with every song helping to build the overall atmosphere of dread.

Red Harvest has made a terrific album here. A Greater Darkness is the band’s pinnacle of achievement. This is a band that deserves your attention.

Having heard a few tracks off their previous album, I had gained quite an interest in this band, and when I discovered that they had a new album out, I couldn't wait to hear it. And now that I have, I have to say that I am a little disappointed.

Red Harvest has certainly achieved their goal of releasing an album nobody would expect, but they forgot to make it as good as their earlier work. A greater darkness is slowed down significantly, and is also less crushing. This wouldn't be too much of a problem, but that robotic apocalyptic feeling is largely gone. It's just a bit tame.

Things start off well enough, “Antidote” sounds fantastic, sounding mechanical and destructive, without needing excessive speed or brutality, which is what I think Red Harvest was going for here. It. "Hole in Me" is pretty strong too, with a bunch of cool ideas, though it does get a little bogged down and boring through the middle.

But after that, some of the songs get a little dull. Don't get me wrong, it's still unpredictable and varied as hell, and will keep you interested for the full duration. It just won't impress you all that much. There's just something missing, that epic robotic sound becomes less frequent, and is replaced by a bunch of uninspiring riffs. Which as a rule sound like a metallic Mnemic. There’s a lot of stuff that tries to be doomy, but fails, and just sounds like a bunch of power chords played slowly.

Musically, the band is one of those ones that want to sound robotic, so don't expect a stunning display of technique, Red Harvest do change things around often, so there are moments of occasional technicality and lively work. There are a few little Black metal influences here and there which helps set the band apart from others. But mainly the band thrives on putting out odd rhythms, and creating dark, post-apocalyptic atmospheres.

The drums are generally your standard double bass rolls, but the fills are actually pretty driving with quite a lot of tom work. This helps the rolling riffs that they do write well move with some real energy, and aid in giving that mechanical crushing sound the band does so well. But unfortunately they sometimes take on a frustrating sound, with annoying drum samples on the bass drums.

The guitars are either disappointing or very good in a rhythmic sense. The faster, machinegun riffs are generally very cool, and do work a lot of the time. It's not really a riff driven album, so the fact that there's not exactly a technical onslaught doesn't cause any problems. Other times the rhythms just get weird, for example one of the faster riffs in "Dead Cities", which sound crazy, and are sure to keep your attention.

But for a lot of the time, the band gives us single note noises, which are supposed to sound doomy, although they achieve nothing, and simply bore. It really hurts the slower sections of the album. As with most industrial acts, there's not really anything in the way of solos, but there are some intricate moments here and there.

Ofu Khan is a decent vocalist, with a pretty good scream, more brutal than a hardcore scream, but it's not really a death one. It's hardly original, but it does the job. His clean vocals are either average singing, or a sort of spoken word. Neither is overly impressive, but they do their job of mixing things up a little. Lyrically, its all apocalyptic reign of technology stuff, you know, same stuff 80% of the industrial community does.

The album is well produced, everything is clear, and more importantly, it seems to change when needed. Everything can become very claustrophobic and hectic during the few more intense moments, but can give everything space when the band opts to get a little more gothic.

The best thing about the band is the songwriting. Everything is hard to see coming, and it is a varied album. There are heavier, faster, more mechanical songs, "Antidote", "Hole In Me", "Icons of Fear...". Slower, more "crushing" songs, which feature bigger individual notes than rapid fire or rolling guitar work. Some songs, "Dead Cities", "I Sweat W.O.M.D" are a fusion of both. And finally, you have songs that basically fill up the bands "Electronic Quota" of sound effects and samples, as there really isn’t that many through the songs. They change things up, but "Beyond the Limits of Physical X-perience" and "Warthemes" are really just a few minutes of useless filler, designed to make you think 'wow, I wasn't expecting that'. But by the second or third listen, all you'll think is 'skip'.

So there's a lot of different ideas on offer, the problem is most of them aren't very good. Luckily, the band's song structures are very interesting, and can carry these really quite average songs to being quite listenable. "Antidote" seems to have one solid backbone riff, which rolls throughout the song, but then "Hole in Me" goes from a heavy mechanical riff, to some slower, softer stuff, before building up again and going at full power again. "Dead Cities", moves back and forth from simple power chords to hectic speed with strange rhythms. That's only three songs in, and there's not a structural similarity between them. This is what keeps "A Greater Darkness" as enjoyable as it is.

Red Harvest's 8th full length isn't essential listening, and it's not as good as the couple of tracks I heard from earlier albums, so I'd recommend looking there first. "Antidote", "Hole In Me" and "Icons of Fear..." are very good songs, but nothing else really holds up as a full song, there’s good parts scattered all over other songs, just not enough to really warrant repeat listens. Too much focus on being unpredictable, not enough on writing good music.