BLOOD RED FOG: "Harvest"

It must have been a relieving year for Blood Red Fog for finally getting some 'older' material out of the queue, first in the name of the doublet Death Cult I and II, and a couple of months later the long-awaited follow-up to 2006's debut album got released as well. After some long delays (most of this album was put down in 2007 already), Harvest is here to summon nothing but atmospheres of inevitable death, and the very reverence of that.

Compared to the tapes earlier this year, Harvest introduces a little more cleaned up sound. There's nothing fancy to it though, as instead of some indiscernible mess, the production here sounds very natural yet crisp, being the opposite of any studio trickery. They've balanced it well, so that it's not a modern loudness war disco nor the resemblance of a hissing underground demo. You can hear every punishing note of the plucking guitar, and the otherworldly vocal performance of BRF reaches the listener better than ever.

What comes to the four long, individual songs here, I tend to think that Harvest is knowingly cut into A and B sides (the back cover hints that too, in expectations of a vinyl version, I hope): ”Harvest” and ”Return” begin the album in a slightly faster manner, firing sweet guitar lines after another in the very Blood Red Fog fashion the band is known for: melancholic torture fluctuating between tremolo and slower parts. Typical of the band, there's a lot of repetition within songs, and this is even more apparent here as every song reaches the 10 minute mark. But during the course of the album you don't really notice it: at least I realize it only if I try to analyze and memorize every part of the album. But that's not what you're really supposed to do anyways.

”The Prison” and ”The Abyss” take the atmosphere to even broodier landscapes, and in my opinion this is where the album does its magic the best. The pace is slowed down to a doomy level, and a crucial feature on both tracks is the appearance of Shu-Ananda on clean vocals: on ”The Prison” he handles an epic chorus and on ”The Abyss” he is responsible for all the vocals, concluding in the last two minutes to shivering levels of greatness. In all honesty, this must be one of the best moments I've heard in Finnish black metal in a while. It's where intensity and emotionality collide in a ritualistic chant in the very best possible way.

”That voice belongs to Satan
The quiet master of my soul

In his footsteps I pass

Into the watery graves”

In the light of the last two tracks, the first two do pale a little, but all in all what we have here is a successful album that's been the soundtrack to my life for the last month. Along with just a couple of other releases, it's the only black metal I've listened to in a while. An all-encompassing dose to satisfy my needs of black metal? Apparently, for now. If you care at all about Finnish black metal, I wouldn't hesitate getting your hands on Harvest which showcases how it's done pretty damn admirably.

4 / 5