This coming Friday, hard rock act Harakiri For The Sky is set to release its new album, Scorched Earth, through the independent label, AOP Records. The seven-song record (the band’s eighth) is an intriguing presentation. Spanning a total run time of just over an hour (61 minutes to be exact), the album proves worth hearing at least once. That is due in large part to its featured musical arrangements, which will be examined shortly. While the arrangements prove a key point for Scorched Earth, the record is not a perfect presentation. The record’s production detracts notably from that presentation. This will be discussed a little later. The production not being enough to doom the album, there is at least one more interesting aspect to the whole, that aspect being the album’s lyrical themes. That is not to say the themes are positive but will certainly resonate with a specific audience base. To that end the lyrical content and musical content featured in this record will collectively make it appealing to a very targeted audience. Keeping that in mind, Scorched Earth, in whole, proves a record that metal audiences will agree is worth hearing at least once.
Scorched Earth, the forthcoming latest album from Harakiri For The Sky, is an intriguing addition to this year’s field of new hard rock and metal albums. It is neither the year’s worst so far nor its best. It is a record worth hearing at least once. That is due largely to its featured musical arrangements. The arrangements, from beginning to end, lift from a handful of hard rock and metal subgenres. Right from its outset, ‘Heal Me,’ this is clear. The wall of sound generated by the duo – M.S. and J.J. (yes, this is actually how they are identified in the booklet and press material) – echoes immediately, hints of goth metal. At the same time, the richness in the guitars and even the rhythm section pair with the vocals to deliver something of an intriguing post hardcore style approach. The pairing of those elements alongside the death/black metal style blast beats from the drums makes for even more interest.
On another note, the more brooding ‘With Autumn I’ll Surrender’ changes things up significantly. The keyboard line that opens the song and more contemplative guitar line is an interesting setup for the full on aural assault that the dual presents as the song progresses. Again, there is a full on wall of sound here, but the overall approach is distinct from the album’s other tracks. In the case of this arrangement, what audiences get is something more along the lines of Killswitch Engage’s more melodic metalcore presentations during its time with Howard Jones on vocals. It makes for another point of musical interest for the album. At the same time the arrangement still boasts its own unique identity, making for plenty of interest in itself.
‘Keep Me Longing,’ another early entry to this album, is another key example of the importance of the record’s musical arrangements. The brooding, contemplative opening bars are a solid buildup to the intensity that follows. The noted KsE comparison is present once again but is less pronounced here. Though the melodic approach is still there, making for its own interest. Considering this, this arrangement, the others examined here and the rest of the album’s musical content come together to make a strong foundation for the album.
While the musical material featured throughout Scorched Earth makes for its own share of interest for audiences, the record is not perfect. The one negative that this record suffers comes from its production. As noted, each of the arrangements featured in the album are intense both in their volume and their stylistic approach. The issue is that the vocals tend to be washed out from one song to another against those instrumentations. There are points, as a matter of fact, at which the vocals sound like they are being screamed from down a long hall while the instrumental performances take the lead. At other points, the vocals are less distant but still clearly washed out in comparison to the songs’ instrumentations. Keeping that in mind, it is certain to lead audiences to strain to hear what is being screamed. This can and certainly will detract from the overall engagement and enjoyment of the album.
Knowing that as problematic as the production is to Scorched Earth, it is not enough to completely doom the album, there is at least one more notable part of the record, that being the lyrical themes. Thankfully for all of the production problems, the album does come complete with a booklet that contains each song’s lyrics.
The lyrics are of interest because of their overall content. This is not light hearted content that will connect with everyone. Case in point is the album’s early entry, ‘Without You I’m Just a Sad Song.’ This is clearly one of those songs about lost love. This as it states from its outset, “I don’t know what’ I’m supposed to do/Always haunted by the ghost of you/Take me back to the night we have met/’Cause without you/I’m just a sad song/I’m waiting for someone/And can’t remember who/But there’s a hole in my heart/Shaped just like you/You’ve drawn memories in my mind/That I can never replace/You’ve painted colors in my heart/Which I can never erase.” The song continues in this fashion throughout the remainder of its expansive run time. Keeping that in mind alongside the song’s intense musical arrangement, the whole therein makes that all too familiar theme even harder hitting.
Another song showing the interest of the album’s lyrical themes comes a little later in the record’s run in the form of ‘No Graves But The Sea.’ This song is quite nihilistic in its own right. This song centers, as with ‘Without You…” In this case though it is a song not of lost romantic love but mourning the loss of people close to us. This is inferred as it states, “I loved to walk barefoot on the shores/Just to feel the coarse sand between my toes/To hear the waves crashing and roar/And to hear the ocean calling my name/Calling me home/Raise your glass to the ones we loved/For whom we cried at night/For those who left this place too early/In my dreams I hold you tight/Raise your glass to the ones we loved/For whom we cried at night/I’ll see you on the other side/Where shadows reach for light.” Again, here is the seeming note of mourning not just a lost love but lost loved ones in general. To that end, it is still a very heavy topic that fits right in line with ‘Without You…’ thus again showing how the record’s lyrical themes will reach a very targeted audience.
The album’s remaining songs seem to center, in their own way, on that noted topic of lost love whole also ruminating on a difficult past in general, such as in ‘With Autumn I’ll Surrender.’ Simply put, throughout the course of this album, the lyrical content is certain to resonate with a very specific audience group. This should be clear at this point. When that targeted reach is considered with the wider reach of the album’s musical arrangements, the whole of that content makes for at least some reason for audiences to hear this album at least once.
Scorched Earth, the forthcoming latest album from Harakiri for the Sky, is an intriguing addition to this year’s field of new hard rock and metal albums. It is a record that will appeal to a very specific audience base. This is proven in part through its featured musical arrangements, which exhibit their own unique identity through the blended use of metalcore, post hardcore and even other hard rock and metal leanings. They are themselves reason enough for audiences to hear the album. As much as the musical arrangements do to make for that appeal, the album’s production proves problematic for that engagement and entertainment. That is because of its impact on the vocals, which from song to song come across as being washed out. Though problematic the production is not enough to doom the album. Keeping that in mind, there is still one point of interest in this album, that being its lyrical themes. The lyrical themes featured in this album are nihilistic to say the very least. That means that they will only appeal to a very specific audience. Again, this is not enough to doom the album. When the lyrical content is considered alongside the album’s musical arrangements, that whole makes Scorched Earth a record that the metal masses will find worth hearing at least once.
Scorched Earth is scheduled for release Friday through AOP Records. More information on the album is available along with all of Harakiri For The Sky’s latest news at https://artofpropaganda.bandcamp.com/album/scorched-earth.
