Scorched Earth
AOP, 2025
9/10
Listen to Harakiri For The Sky
The German outfit Harakiri For The Sky return with more of their atmospheric metal, where the 8 involved tracks essentially create a genre all their own.
“Heal Me” starts with soft keys, but it doesn’t take long for the dense guitar to enter amid the pleading vocals of the emotive and thick climate, and “Keep Me Longing” follows with melodic piano and a dreamy, post-rock mood that welcomes hard hitting, nearly mechanical drumming that suits the raspy vocals.
Arriving at the halfway point is the warm guitar opening of “No Graves But The Sea” that uses grungey sounds and throaty singing which brings to mind hardcore, while “With Autumn I’ll Surrender” flirts with prog-rock ideas and flowing melodies where talking and singing mix with incredible precision in the abrasive yet tuneful album highlight.
Close to the end, the pummeling “Too Late For Goodbyes” offers an ebullient and guttural execution that’s still able to retain harmony, and “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” exits with a Radiohead cover that leads similar to the original before the crunchy and bristling backdrop adds a new dimension to the classic tune.
A truly exceptional body of work that will appeal to metalheads, punks and emo fans, the songs touch on the fragmented world of today, and the songs are fierce but memorable.
Travels well with: BLYND- Unbeliever; Hardraw- Abyss Of Mankind