This album starts off with “Fire, Walk With Me”. This track has some incredibly lush pianos to begin, but are instantly brushed to the side for some intense guitars and pounding drums. There is a little bit of Symphonic Metal to this, and I would almost say that fans of a band like Nightwish would be into this. Obviously though, Harakiri For The Sky is for the big boys, and is just so much more intense and grinding. I absolutely love JJ’s vocals here, and how much they’ve evolved over the years from being toss-away Metalcore vocals to these absolutely shattering screams. This is one hell of an intro. We may be dealing with some of the most depressive and suicidal lyrics that Harakiri have ever worked with. But with the constantly thrashing instrumentals, it just seems to work. Then we have the instrumentals themselves, which are just as intense and swirling as you would think, but Harakiri stick to their Black Metal roots, and keep things incredible epic and gigantic. I don’t think there’s anything about “Fire, Walk With Me” that I don’t love. It’s intense and brutal, and it just makes me want to break out and climb some gigantic mountain and scream my damn lungs out. What an absolutely explosive start. But even in the later moments, where things are toned down a bit and Harakiri get more precise, this track is masterful. It’s beautiful in parts, crushing in others, hell yea this track is awesome. On the other hand “The Graves We’ve Dug” is much more direct right off the bat with absolutely no fluff in sight. No, this one is just determined riffs and in your face metal. But to be honest, this is quite possibly my least favorite track here. I love the atmosphere of Harakiri for the Sky, and with this one they sort of throw that away in exchange for a much more direct tune. Sure, it’s aggressive and muscular, and has a lot of great stuff going on. But there’s sadly no way of really telling this apart from other Black Metal bands. Now, there are some more epic passages, but for a track that’s even longer than this album’s opener I have so much less to say about it. I do still love JJ’s vocals, but compared to the rest of this album this is completely toothless. “You Are The Scars” however does win me back with this very haunting and beautiful piano lead. One thing I do love about Harakiri for the Sky is their sense of majesty. This one is much more grandiose in feel, but JJ’s incredibly searing vocals right off the bat are absolutely what I love to hear from him. This track is brutal, but it’s also strangely delicate in parts. Harakiri like so many of heir contemporary go so easily back and forth between triumphant metal passages and tearjerking balladry. I love the Progressive elements here as well as Harakiri blast from passage to passage seamlessly. The guitars just get so melodic and anthemic throughout “You Are the Scares”, and even JJ’s vocals get dare I say, catchy. This track is incredible, even the last three minutes is something Harakiri haven’t touched, with these very synth-heavy beautiful passages. Then we have “Heroin Waltz”, and I really do have to give it to Harakiri from the sky. These more low-key passages are incredibly beautiful and well thought out. I love the almost Spanish Guitar here and heavy atmosphere. Then, of course, the usual crushing guitars and drums come in. JJ’s vocals here are chilling, I love the way he’s just belting out whatever the hell he feels. The determined riffs here are fantastic as well, and while this is far from the headiest tune here I just feel like Harakiri are so comfortable with this sound. I also have to really commend their lyrics, which are a little hard to decipher. But upon looking into them you’re going to find some of the duo’s most intense and visual performances yet. Some of the breakdowns around the 4 minute mark are just ridiculous, and I can’t help but eat “Heroin Waltz” all up. And listen, if this is the sort of Metal that’s maybe a little too melodic for you, trust me I get that. But for me, a dude who needs his Black Metal epic and grandiose, this is brilliant. And around the 6 minute mark, we get almost playful synths that sort of bounce around in between just how brutal
these verses are. This track is special indeed.
“Tomb Omnia” on the other hand, starts off so pummeling and direct, and for the most part is easy to digest. As far as JJ’s vocals go, this is easily his most passionate performance. Obviously, he’s always a very visceral performer. But here, he just sounds like he’s really blaring everything from his heart. This track is brutal, with some of the most intense drums and nonstop guitars yet. Not to mention, I love the soaring instrumentals on this one, and while the synths are very subtle, I feel like they give “Tomb Omnia’ a very cool sound. The progression to a more upbeat sound works out well too around the 3-minute mark. And obviously, lyrically I wouldn’t exactly say this track has brightened up, but I didn’t expect that. I really don’t have anything bad to say about this one. Then we have “Stillborn”, which doesn’t waste any time even if it is on the slower side. There’s almost a Doom Metal feel to this one that I could easily get into hearing more of. I love just how technical this is, and while yes this is easily the most sluggish tune here, I can’t tell you how intrigued I am. Then we have JJ’s vocals which are just so ugly and aggressive. He screams out “Dancing on the edge of the blade”, and you’re damn right he makes you believe it. “Stillborn” is just so damn explosive, I love how much of a pressure cooker of a track this is. But of course, Harakiri do pick it up and get the ball rolling into one of the more intense tunes here. Ironically, this quickly becomes one of the most fast-paced and soaring tracks here. I do have to point out though, there are some major Shoegaze elements going on here deep down, I can see fans of Alcest being really into this as well. This album wraps up with “Voidgazer”, and I feel like they keep adding in layers of layers of new elements as this album goes on. For instance, this is easily the most pronounced that we’ve heard the keyboards and synths so far. And when everything comes crashing in, from the incredibly melodic guitars and drums to JJ’s very husky screams, there isn’t anything about this I’m doubting at all. “Voidgazer” may be the easiest to digest and straight up catchy track here, but I wouldn’t say that’s a bad thing. I do sort of wish this was heavier in parts, however. As a finale though, Harakiri do go all out and make it grand and epic.
Rating: 7.9/10
Give a Listen To: "Fire, Walk With Me", "You Are The Scars", "Heroin Waltz", "Stillborn"
Genre: Black Metal / Post Metal / Symphonic Metal
Overall Thoughts: Harakiri for the Sky on this album in a lot of ways do what they do best, and that’s bring in ridiculous epic song structures and grand instrumentals to Black Metal, while bringing in some very lush interludes as well. Obviously, the track list here is a little overwhelming, with almost every track brushing up against the 10-minute mark. But if you’re into Black Metal with a very grandiose feel to it, this is an album you’re not going to want to miss. My only real slight issue is that on a track or two, I feel like Harakiri didn’t push things far enough. Maybe an instrumental was a little too easy to digest, or they didn’t bring in enough Shoegaze influences. Still though, this is a very above average metal project.
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