White Light Came Down

Black Harvest’s MySpace page lists their genre as ‘Metal/Black Metal/Death Metal’. Actually, the situation is more varied than this. Black and Death Metal are certainly represented – you will probably have to like those genres to like this band – but the blistering riffs, scathing vocals, and rhythmic assault of the band’s heavy sections are invariably tempered by wistful or sorrowful melodies, even an acoustic guitar in ‘New Year’s Day.’ This wide sonic spectrum and the creativity of their arrangements could justify including ‘progressive’ in the band’s genre-label, or at least ‘melodic’.
To put it most simply, this is an album for people who (like the band) enjoy both black metal AND Deftones. That could put us in dangerous territory. After all, genre mixing has given us some unforgivably dire (and inexplicably popular) bands like Slipknot. A careful listening, however, will demonstrate that we are safely outside that bit of crass commercialism. The sincerity and emotional depth – not to mention the quality of their song-writing – elevates Black Harvest well above the so-called ‘nu-metal’. In the first place, the heavy sections are VERY heavy: Krishor’s screeching is so harsh at times it could strip the flesh from your bones, there are chunky guitar riffs and blast beats, none of which are very suitable for mainstream consumption. On the other hand, the quieter parts are not gratuitous emo-style schlocking. This is genuine, heartfelt sorrow and longing, communicated through compelling music and excellent singing. That’s right: I said ‘singing.’ Often, when a heavy band attempts traditional vocals, it shows an embarrassing lack of skill and confidence on the singer’s part. Not here: the melodic sections of songs like ‘Die, Lavinia’, ‘Tamora’ and the aforementioned ‘New Year’s Day’ demonstrate a clear, confident voice with expert control and an unerring sense of melody. There is even a two-part harmony in the opening of ‘Lamentation’.
However, if genre-bending and musical proficiency were the most interesting aspects of Black Harvest, there wouldn’t be much point in listening. But Black Harvest’s mixing of styles is not their reason to exist; it is their tool. Freed from the strictures of any one genre or sub-genre, the band are at liberty to take a song in any direction it needs to go. The result is seven compelling arrangements, all but two of which break the six-minute mark (the eighth and final track is a cover of ‘Apocalypse’ by Hypocrisy). This is expert song-writing; each track feels honest and heartfelt. Wherever it takes you, whether to hellish metal riffs or soaring melodies, the journey feels entirely natural, rather than the result of some progressive experiment or market research. The album opens with ‘Die, Lavinia’, which yields tight, percussive metal riffing, suddenly thrown into relief by a guitar melody which instantly adds depth to the opening rage (throughout the album the band continually weave together rage and sorrow with stunning results). The track moves effortlessly between volume and melody, ending with a piano outro that takes you into ‘Let Us Go’, the album’s shortest track and one of its consistently hardest. ‘Tamora’ begins nothing like metal: a quiet, wistful guitar melody and clear singing. However, as the vocal melody peaks, the distorted guitars break in, and Krishor’s long, scathing growl sounds like a beast awakening from sleep as he signal’s the arrival of the song’s rage. The title track seems to showcase the full range of the band’s song-writing skills and musical tastes: dark, angry, with ample blast-beats delivered at a machine-gun pace, soaring melodies, scathing screams, double-bass and low, percussive riffing; the lot. The most surprising track is the tragic ‘New Year’s Day’, which keeps its acoustic guitar almost throughout: distorted guitars break in only in the middle. Nevertheless, it is such an honest and well-written song, it is impossible not to be moved. At every turn, Black Harvest demonstrate not merely a true love of metal, but of MUSIC, and that they’re damn good at making it. They mould their vast repertoire into something unique and distinctly their own – the black metal sections could be expected to sound borrowed from Krishor (aka Borg) and Roger (aka Narg)’s straight black metal band Ash, but they don’t.
Basically, this is some of the most satisfying music I’ve heard in the past twelve months. If you’re a fan of extreme metal as well as poignant, affecting song-writing, I defy you not to enjoy this album.

A fairly surprising act are Black Harvest. Consisting of elements from several genres, Black Harvest are completely unique. Blending and shaping styles at their will, Black Harvest were, as aforementioned, a complete surprise package. This unusual blend of melodic doom and black metal may cause many to jump for joy, and other to turn away in disgust. The very fact that they are brave enough to cross genres and mix them together may cause many people to ignore their very presence. I've seen it before, people turning their backs on bands who have crossed genres with one another. I admit to doing it myself on occasions. I'm not a very big fan of bands who do it so blatantly. It's the subtlety that makes a band great when mixing styles of play together with one another. Black Harvest have done a very competent job at doing so, it must be said. But is that enough for the vast majority of people? I'm not so sure. If i'm honest, i'm not entirely sure where the black metal tag comes from, but that's the annoying thing about genres. Who really knows what goes where?


White Light Came Down is the third full-length album from the North American outfit and my favourite to date. It's unusual blend of genres is appealing to me. Melodic moments and clean vocals, to harsh and aggressive pieces of musicianship combined with the standard throaty screams blend well together in this highly enjoyable piece of music. The very fact that this full-length contains both harsh and clean vocals may be viewed as a negative aspect. A vast amount of people simply cannot stomach a mixture of both styles of vocals on the same album. Especially considering the harsh vocals are seemingly of the hardcore variety. Hardcore music isn't a universal style of play, it takes a certain type of person to be able to listen and enjoy hardcore vocalists.


Generally speaking, I like the vocals. The clean vocals are very well sung and compliment the melodic moments incredibly well, though they may confuse the listener as Black Harvest seemingly try to incorporate as many elements of every genre into a short space of time. This may force some to view the album as quite rushed. The slower passages of play invite the listener to become engrossed in the heart of Black Harvest, this is where Black Harvest are really on form. It's these very moments that make the band what they are, not so much when they're playing at a furious speed and have quite overbearing screams placed sporadically on top. The production is top notch and really allows every instrument, from bass to the lead guitar, to be heard consistently well throughout. Although there are occasions when the raw and hateful screams of the vocalist can detract from the well organised song structures and beautiful pieces of ambience.


Lyrically, i'm a big fan of bands that deal with human issues and emotions, so this appeals to me, though it may not others. The lyrics aren't especially important to the band though. They don't bare any real significance to the listeners opinion on the band. As previously stated, it's the harmonious melodic passages of play that make me hold this band in such high esteem as it's these moments that catch the attention so well. That said there are certain songs which don't showcase the bands ability to create a catchy style of music. They add no real depth to proceedings and are just THERE. The sheer lack of contribution is a down point.


In conclusion, Black Harvest are a potentially great band. There are a few areas which need addressing. Such as the confusing genre intertwining and the sometimes out of place harsh vocals, but other than that one can see a promising future if the new band line-up doesn't affect the bands style negatively too much. Highlights include; Die, Lavinia, Let Us Go, Remnant and White Light Came Down.