Customer Reviews

Cold Dark Matter

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This band can't be described in words. Has to be heard for to be believed. I had a friend tell me about this cd. I at first wasn't too interested in buying this. I did pick a copy of it up from relapse's mailorder and was amazed with it. It is nothing like anything I have ever heard in my lifetime. It is really a blend of everything. Almost to some extent has a bit of a techno/industrial sound to it . Think for the most part almost everyone would like it.

there are few bands that can really combine industrial with metal effectively, like ministry. this band does it impeccably and adds atmosphere to the mix. some may say it's industrial black metal. some of the riffing styles on certain songs and drum patterns would lead you to believe that, but no. this band is all about bleak, post-apocalyptic futures not raping christ and worshipping odin. listen to songs like ad noctum and last call, and it will feel like you're walking through the remains of a wartorn city of a dead world.

there are a couple of detractors posting reviews on their latest 'Sick Transit Gloria Mundi.' don't listen to those guys. metal/extreme music isn't for everyone and especially not those guys who don't even listen to metal as a genre. they're opinions are grossly misinformed. yeah the drums are fast and there's lots of screaming... it's metal. to the casual listener, metal will always sound like a bunch of fast noise unless it's doom. then in that case it's slow noise. but rest assured, it's music.

Somewhere between the industrial-metal madness of Ministry and the blistering primal aggression of black metal, Red Harvest makes their home. These Norwegians have been loudly toiling in obscurity for years, finally getting an American introduction courtesy of Relapse. Cold Dark Matter is their sixth opus, and it sounds like it was cooked up in an underground lab in the aftermath of nuclear war. A wildly dissonant rampage greets the listener, at once uncomfortable and awe-inspiring. And it rarely lets up. The production is (purposefully?) thin and scratchy, like listening to ham radio transmissions from hell. The songs relentlessly follow a monolithic pattern: distorted guitars meet distorted vocals with a side dish of distortion thrown in for variety. The tempo shifts for "Absolut Dunkel:heit" becoming faster and, dare I say it, catchier, while "Junk-O-Rama" crams a melodic chorus in between some ham-fisted guitar mauling. By far my favorite track is "Last Call". Slower and more sedative then the rest, it shows a atmospheric, more nuanced side to the band. While some tracks can safely be skipped, the wheat outweighs the chaff, with the final result being like a nuclear dawn: moving, though not something you want to experience up close. And that cover... it's just as ugly as the music. Here's to truth in advertising.

Cold, harsh mix of Inustrialized Metal with a nice essence of Black/Death Metal and Thrash in the vein of Godflesh, Strapping Young Lad and Fear Factory, but still making a unique sound of their own.

Red Harvest is interesting to say the least. It generally takes a lot of industrial influence and melds it together with the sounds of more extreme metal, occasionally it reminded me of Sepultura and Fear Factory(don't get picky with me on labels here, I say extreme and mean stuff like Black and Death, I know FF were the latter on SOANM, but I always considered them their own thing..).

The ultimate sound of the album is cold, dark, desolate, and hopeless like a cyber-punk suspense thriller's soundtrack. Think of an extension of the way Blade Runner or Shadowrun soundtracks could sound. This can be a very atmospheric album that you could rock out to at the same time. This kind of sound is rarely pulled off well, I feel Red Harvest has a lot of room to grow and perfect their sound, this probably isn't the best they're capable of but it's a very well-rounded effort. I recommend it to anyone looking for decent industrial metal- fans of Ministry, Fear Factory, Strapping Young Lad, and Devin Townsend.