Harvested – Harvested
Release Date: 7th May 2022
Label: Independent
Bandcamp
Genre: Death Metal, Technical Death Metal.
FFO: Cattle Decapitation, Aborted, Cognitive, Cytotoxin, Hate Eternal.
Review By: Andy Spoon
In the age of COVID, it was only a matter of time before we were able to start to see some of the rhetoric surrounding the issues which pervaded the public marketplace of ideas. Vaccines, masks, social distancing, even hand-washing and quarantine issues seemed to split groups of people from Toronto to Timbuktu. No one could universally agree on anything other than the fact that they hated what was happening in the world and wanted life to return to normal. Naturally, the artists and melancholy inhabitants of this astral plane only needed that nudge to raise commentary through various art media to share their take. Harvested’s self-titled release touches on some of the issues that have infected (pun intended) the mainstream public discourse in the last couple of years, as well as major matters of depression, dread, and anxiety.
Aside from the first track, Apathetic, which directly references the apathy that comes from the pervasive international crisis, the majority of the album deals with aspects of existentialism, depression, self-loathing, and even mental illness, albeit in a way that fits the themes of death metal à la horror and violence. Much of the lyrical content engages the listener with the author’s experience with urges to violence, fear of the “Jekyll and Hyde” duality, and even the inability to maintain a positive outlook in a world that seems to be ever-darkening. Matters of international relevance seem to point to that same depressive dread, too-many are feeling right now in light of the recent state of the world.
Sonically, the pace is blistering, blast beats and lightning-fast guitar chugging, the meter is constant, leaving room for furious and repeated headbanging, something that is often overlooked when listening to an album “for the fun of it” as many albums dip in and out of slow and fast-pace transitions. Harvested’s self-titled album is a repeated attack of heaviness. Never slowing down for transitions, each track focuses on heavy and furious energy that doesn’t relent. Fans of Aborted and Cognitive will appreciate the pace and tempo of the album, as it never slows down from start to finish. While only six tracks make up the entirety of the album, it is a highly-satisfying listen, every bit of “fat” having been trimmed into what listeners receive in 2022.
As a collaborative effort between multi-instrumental musicians fulfilling non-traditional roles (apart from previous projects), Harvested has released their self-titled EP independently, yielding no control to financial or label interests in the production of the record. It’s not clear whether that would have been evident in a side-by-side comparison, but it’s great to see artists taking as much control of the overall product as possible, another positive by-product of the myspace-thru-bandcamp generation of musicians who produce their own music sans label.
Thrashing guitars, blasting drums, and intense, chesty vocals start and end each track. Recording quality and production is good, allowing each of the instruments to cut through the mix. I did not notice anything specific in the stereo mixdown that was particularly good or bad, something that I think makes a track a little more dynamically-diverse. Nothing is lost in the overall production, but the compression of the instruments does lend itself to the high-intensity of the record as a whole. It’s loud, clear, and fast, no bones about it. In particular, the death riffs on guitar were my favorite element of the music section, with deep, growling strokes that easily blend with the bass and vocals, regardless of the tech-death speeds. If I were to criticize anything of the album, I would have liked to see some more art concepts from the album cover, as the theme of the EP is poignant and raw. I would have also preferred some additional “stepping out” from instruments other than guitar at several points, just to add a little of the “showoff factor” that could have elevated Harvested’s Self-Titled EP a little higher. Other than those minor nitpicks, however, there is a tremendous amount of potential in this band, and I’d absolutely love to hear more from them. I certainly hope that in the coming years, the pace doesn’t slow or abate, as this EP ought to be on any tech-death fan’s radar for mid-2022.
(4 / 5)
