Review 2566 : Harakiri for the Sky – Scorched Earth – English

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Harakiri for the Sky has never been silent.

Formed in 2011, the Austrian band has remained a duo, between J.J. (vocals, Karg, Lûs, Seagrave) and M.S. (composition/guitar/bass, ex-Bifröst). An intimacy shared with drummer Kerim “Krimh” Lechner (Septicflesh, Dååth, ex-Decapitated…) to offer us Scorched Earth, their sixth album, with the support of AOP Records.

The band also credits Jorge Cisternas (Humanotone, Sunvher) on backing vocals.

Those of you who follow me already know my love for Harakiri for the Sky, and it starts all over again on Heal Me, a previously unveiled track that I thought I’d had time to digest, but no, tears well up in my eyes. The harmonics, the vocals – accompanied by Tim Yatras (Austere) – and the acceleration all grab me by the gut, leaving me helpless in the face of Keep Me Longing, which starts gently before hammering me and stirring my stomach with blistering riffs. There’s a sort of conflicted relationship with some almost perky passages, then the duo offer me a moment’s respite with Without You I’m Just a Sad Song, whose introduction is finally broken by violent riffs, but also some airy leads, before the happy, airy tones come to tint the track. They obviously become more virulent and intense, then fade away and return to quietude before giving way to the luminous tones of No Graves but the Sea, a visceral creation that the duo asserts as the spearhead of their violence, but also of their darkness before With Autumn I’ll Surrender, a track we already know. We have those haunting melodies again as well as J.J.‘s distressed cries that become melancholy, before meeting  rawer sounds on I Was Just Another Promise You Couldn’t Keep, where the Shoegaze influences return, I find myself once again drawn into the band’s world and their obvious sadness. It turns into real rage on Too Late for Goodbyes, where the musicians welcome Serena Cherry (Svalbard), who helps the vocalist bewitch us with her clean vocals on the break, but also bludgeons us with her harsh ones. The duet is simply perfect, as balanced as it is complementary, but it gives way to one last collaboration with Groza’s P.G. to cover Street Spirit (Fade Out), a Radiohead composition to which the guest gives a very intimate touch thanks to his clean voice, and if the track surprised me at first, it ended up captivating me in its turn, and revealing all its intensity.

I don’t think there’s a single person in my circle who doesn’t know that I love Harakiri for the Sky, and for good reason: the duo has always managed to move me with their striking compositions. I had to listen to Scorched Earth once, then a second time, but I’m delighted to return to be trampled by this avalanche of emotions.

95/100

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