Harakiri for the Sky – Scorched Earth Review

By Dear Hollow

Harakiri for the Sky is one of those bands that is consistently very good but constantly eludes greatness. The Austrian duo’s grasp on melody is second to none, pairing yearning atmospheres with blackened aggression and meditative tempos, resolute in its muscular weight and melodic motifs without devolving into either jadedness nor frailty. While devoted to the style’s trademark slow-burning growth, they constantly avoid the pitfalls of the “post-black” descriptor, refusing to fall into the weak and twinkly shenanigans of their counterparts. However, composition remains mid-tempo and largely too safely confined to the overlapping of predictable melodies and their organic resolutions. This is not a bad thing and Scorched Earth makes that clear.

Harakiri for the Sky has made its trademark unmistakable, and had five full-lengths of practice in doing so. Instrumentals provided by Matthias Sollak are richly layered with heart-wrenching melodies and bound by thick plodding riffs with the edge of blackened rawness, while J.J.’s formidable barks communicate both riveting charisma and rending pain alike in a bit of a post-hardcore spin. Career highlights like 2016’s III: Trauma and 2021’s Mære firmly establish this balance and run with it, while 2018’s Arson fell into forgettable territory by virtue of simply being in an excellent discography. Frankly, that’s a fantastic problem to have, and I had no doubts that Scorched Earth was going to be anything short of enjoyable. Featuring guests like Tim Yatras of Austere and Serena Cherry of Svalbard and Noctule contributing to this instrumental and vocal tapestry,1 Scorched Earth feels like the natural next step for Harakiri for the Sky in renewed vigor and intensity.

Harakiri for the Sky’s grasp on melody remains largely the same, retaining the “twinkly” description but imbued with a heartbreak reminiscent of more depressive styles. Scorched Earth descends deeper into this dirge, with solemn passages and slower tempos letting the breadth of harmony and desperation echo further across its empty outstretched hands. The approach remains very simple, with Sollak’s chord progressions doing the talking in all their natural crescendos and organic dissolutions. Tracks can take on a nearly folky feel reminiscent of melodeath greats like Insomnium or Amorphis (“Heal Me,” “With Autumn I’ll Surrender”), while the clever layering of riffs, leads, and melodic motifs offer a place of utmost emotional intensity between placid passages of yearning (“Keep Me Longing,” “No Graves But the Sea”), while notable tension in unorthodox chord progressions adds a texture beyond just “pretty black metal” (“Without You I’m Just a Sad Song,” “I Was Just Another Promise You Couldn’t Keep”). While Austere’s Tim Yatras performance is difficult to discern in “Heal Me,” Svalbard/Noctule’s Serena Cherry lends her sirenic croons in closer “Too Late for Goodbyes,” ending Scorched Earth on a solemn and desolate note.

Harakiri for the Sky’s melody, although front and center, is bolstered by tracks featuring a more unpredictable instrumental presence than before. A voiceless venom keeps the sound grounded, as more morose and beautiful movements are contrasted with heavier riffs and moments of darkness that bare a track’s teeth. While the rhythmic chugs kick through the beauty with recklessness (“Without You I’m Just a Sad Song,” “With Autumn I’ll Surrender”) and more upbeat punk rhythms and blastbeats inject a blasting vigor (“No Graves But the Sea,” “Keep Me Longing,” “Too Late for Goodbyes”), dissonance serves as a necessary and ugly thread to keeping the hyper-melodic palette from getting too much (“Heal Me,” “I Was Just Another Promise You Couldn’t Keep). While the vast majority of Scorched Earth is dominated by beauty, it’s nice to have more dimension and more humanity from Harakiri for the Sky in its darker passages.

At its core, Scorched Earth is quintessential Harakiri for the Sky. Setting out with more reckless elements such as heavier riffs, blackened blastbeats, or a touch of dissonance, it feels a tad more dangerous and experimental than in previous iterations.2 However, the epitome of “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” formula, Harakiri for the Sky plays it close to the vest with the true star of the show: layers and layers of melody. While shorter than Mære, Scorched Earth is nonetheless daunting in its hour length, and its hyper-melodicism can oft grow tiring while J.J.’s post-hardcore-influenced barks has always felt slightly out of place against the crystalline melody, Harakiri for the Sky remains amazingly melodic and always pleasant to listen to. Scorched Earth, once again, is frustratingly safe – truly the act’s signature.

Rating: 3.5/5.0
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: AOP Records
Websites: harakirifortheskyofficial.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/HarakiriForTheSky
Releases Worldwide: January 24th, 2025

#2025 #35 #Amorphis #AOPRecords #Austere #AustrianMetal #BackwardsCharm #BlackMetal #Groza #HarakiriForTheSky #Insomnium #Jan25 #Karg #Megadeth #MelodicBlackMetal #Noctule #PostBlackMetal #PostHardcore #Radiohead #Review #Reviews #ScorchedEarth #Svalbard

OK, guys. Someone in my feed said that you like #bats .
So... Here is a Common #Noctule #bat or #Nyctalus noctula* from some old fieldtrip warming up before flight.

Could be N. leisleri as well, we captured both on that point. It's tricky to say without measurements, but I think it's bright red enough to be N. noctula.
#BatsOfMastodon #Batstodon

🔊 #NowPlaying on #KEXP's #VarietyMix

Noctule:
🎵 Labyrinthian

#Noctule

https://open.spotify.com/track/2PVUEHnVK6ff1y1A4BdNe8

https://noctule.bandcamp.com/track/labyrinthian

Serena Cherry has a knack for melody. In her storied career with Svalbard, the charismatic vocalist and guitarist has co-written and performed a decade of melodic hardcore tinged with post-hardcore, post-metal, and black metal. My experience in last year’s excellent When I Die, Will I Get Better? balanced melody with in-your-face lyrics, but above all, stellar songwriting. While undoubtedly furious, it addressed difficult issues controversially mincing no words and doing so with a heart unseen in much of metal and metallic subgenres. Now, Cherry tries a little something different in her new solo project Noctule, hoping to “spread her dragon wings and take off in an intriguing musical direction on her own.”

A labor of love and isolation, Cherry composed and recorded the Noctule debut while in the UK Coronavirus lockdown. Opposed to the melodic hardcore leanings of Svalbard, she now bets it all on black in blackened release Wretched Abyss, an album themed after the popular RPG Skyrim. It’s not the first time that gaming and metal have coincided, as the early Halo-themed days of Shadow of Intent or Legend of Zelda-themed cavernousness of Chthe’ilist spring to mind. Cherry aptly reflects this epic and medieval theme in her music, utilizing melodic tremolo, blastbeats, beautiful sustaining notes, and distant shrieks to create eight tracks of epic adventure. Ultimately, Noctule too often crashes atmoblack’s party and it’s difficult to find Wretched Abyss’ bite, but it’s nonetheless a fun album full of powerful melodies and a definite sense of destination.

Old habits die hard, and Cherry’s project often feels a lot like a more blackened Svalbard. Hyper-melodic overlays dominate each song and repeated passages get drilled into listener’s ears while a backbone of distant howls and plodding drumming keep the journey progressing. Tracks like “Elven Sword” and “Winterhold” offer layers of melodic earworms alongside speedy tremolo, “Unrelenting Force,” “Deathbell Harvest,” and “Evenaar” offer crispy shredding riffs, while the more contemplative tracks “Labyrinthian” and title track have me feeling emotional about a game I’ve never played.1 Utilizing layers of guitar riffs and melodies, synthesizers, and tempo-shifting drums, Wretched Abyss is relentless in its atmosphere. While not particularly aggressive, the tone recalls the marauding epic flavors of fantasy-inspired acts like Summoning or Caladan Brood. In true Svalbardian fashion, Noctule’s star of the show is its songwriting and the presentation of its melodies: as it utilizes catchy refrains and a similar song structure that avoids overuse, songs never feel too long. Wretched Abyss clocks in at a modest forty-two minutes, which furthermore is a good runtime to flesh out its elements without overstaying its welcome.

That being said, the schism between the melodic atmo- or post-black and rawer second-wave continues to widen. Noctule ultimately has more in common with recent (albeit excellent) atmospheric offerings like Harakiri for the Sky or Mossweaver than 2021 offerings from “trve” acts like Seth or Misotheist. As such, there is little wretched or abyssal about Wretched Abyss: its melody being the main attraction, Noctule’s teeth are lost in the fold. While crisp riffs appear periodically, they are utilized as emphasis to the melodies. While dwelling almost entirely in the melodic, darker elements are most emphasized in the minor keys of tracks like “Evenaar” and instrumental closer “Become Ethereal.” As such, similar to post-black or atmoblack, the blasting drums and shrieked vocals are merely an afterthought and one may question why they are present to begin with. If anything, Cherry’s hardcore roots shine.

Old habits die hard, and Noctule remains very much in the shadow of Svalbard. Serena Cherry conveys her songwriting skills to a new style and for the most part, succeeds, but at the cost of black metal’s fury and kvlt attitude. The Skyrim influence works for the epic atmosphere, but melody pervades every fiber of Wretched Abyss, and the speedier hardcore influence is unmistakable. While potentially damning, Noctule keeps its head above water thanks to its fantastic songwriting, which allows listeners to feel as if they’ve reach a destination by the end of its forty-two minute quest. Noctule remains an unbalanced side-quest to Svalbard, perhaps, but one that is ultimately just plain fun.

Rating: 3.0/5.0
DR: 7 | Format Reviewed: 320 kbps mp3
Label: Translation Loss Records | Church Road Records
Websites: noctule.bandcamp.com | facebook.com/NoctuleBand
Releases Worldwide: May 28th, 2021

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