By:
Brandon Green
Album Type: Full
Length
Date Released: 16/02/2018
Label: AOP Records
“Arson” is a massive achievement for Harakiri for the Sky. They took everything that was amazing about “III: Trauma”, and turned up the intensity even higher. If you’re a fan of post-black metal, atmospheric black metal, or introspective music in general, this album is perfect for you.
“Arson” CD//DD//2LP track listing:
1).
“Fire, Walk With Me”
2). “The Graves We’ve Dug”
3). “You Are The Scars”
4). “Heroin Waltz”
5). “Tomb Omnia”
6). “Stillborn”
7). “Voidgazer”
8). “Manifesto” (Graveyard Lovers cover)
2). “The Graves We’ve Dug”
3). “You Are The Scars”
4). “Heroin Waltz”
5). “Tomb Omnia”
6). “Stillborn”
7). “Voidgazer”
8). “Manifesto” (Graveyard Lovers cover)
The Review:
An
impressive follow-up to “III: Trauma”
back in 2016, “Arson” wastes very
little time throwing the listener into an aggressive, melodic, and atmospheric
black metal bliss. With most of the songs clocking in over 8 minutes, Harakiri for the Sky do a wonderful job creating
soundscapes that take the listener from crushingly heavy melodic sections to
shoegazey piano-laden clean parts that often stick in your head for days. This
album is absolutely worth spending over an hour hiking in the woods with
headphones on, or staring at the ceiling. Easily contender for album of the
year for me and its only February.
“Fire Walk with Me”
is the first glimpse of the album. It gives the listener a medley of what we
can anticipate from 2018’s “Arson”,
and includes some of the best moments of what the album offers. The track begins with an airy, beautiful
keyboard intro following immediately into driving guitars. Throughout the song there are frequent
changes and pauses, which are an opportunity for us to gaze into the musical
craftsmanship HKFTS want us to see. The deliberate stops
in the track give the listener an opportunity to really appreciate when all of
the layers merge and we experience the masterful musicianship in its entirety.
Energetic guitar leads meet with passionate harsh vocals which are more of a
shout than the traditional black metal scream heard in other modern black metal
acts. The vocals really give this band
an extremely memorable sound in what seems to be a flooded genre these days.
“You Are the Scars” starts
with a beautiful intro reminiscent of early HIM /
goth rock records. Big hitting drums and guitar chords with washy shoegaze-like
melodies in the background break into a beautiful clean section mid-way through
the track with a “holy shit” moment as the distortion kicks back in with
soaring leads and vocals. As the song builds up to its conclusion, epic blast
beats push us into even more emotionally intense moments making this track one
of the more special ones on “Arson”.
“Heroin Waltz” was
the single I first heard before this album dropped, and it got me beyond
excited for this release. As track 4 on the album, it fits perfectly. Despite
the 100 times I’ve already listened to it, I couldn’t help but crank the volume
again in the albums context for the 101th listen. The gorgeous clean intro with
ebow guitar leads slamming into punishing blast beat drums and amazing chord
structures immediately had me hooked.
The fact this song feels like a waltz with the memorable guitar melodies
and 3 / 4 time signatures make this not only tragically melodic, its beyond
addicting to listen to. The clean middle section and guitar leads that develop
are revisited throughout song and are still constantly stuck in my head. This track
really shows off what the band can do as musicians and has me coming back for
more. The drumming is absolutely insane on this one.
“Tomb Omnia” was another extremely
memorable track from “Arson”. As one
of the shorter tracks on the album, this song does not disappoint with its
heavy hitting melodic intro cutting into folky black metal blast beats and
soaring screams. As another single released before the album, it’s a fantastic
song placed well on the track listing. It almost feels like part 2 of “Heroin Waltz”, and this is a welcomed
thing.
“Arson”
is a massive achievement for Harakiri for the Sky.
They took everything that was amazing about “III: Trauma”, and turned up the intensity even higher. If I were to
nitpick, I would say the album does feel a little long at 1 hour and 11 minutes.
Coming in around the 50-minute mark, I think “Arson” would be perfect. Make
no mistakes, the production is top notch, and the song crafting is masterful.
This new release reminds me of all of the reasons I fell in love with Agalloch and Alcest separately, but
combined into a powerfully emotional and personal experience. Their own
interpretation of these styles fits almost too well, and they’ve invented their
own sound with it that’s beyond satisfying to listen to.
If you’re a fan of post-black metal, atmospheric black metal, or introspective
music in general, this album is perfect for you.
“Arson”
is available here
Band
info: facebook