Red Harvest

Cold Dark Matter (Relapse)
by Paul Lee

This is the first supreme metallic industrial act that I’ve heard from Norway (Apoptygma Beserk doesn’t count, they’re more EBM), and these guys attack their instruments with a fierceness that the likes of Fear Factory can only dream of. With influences like Killing Joke, Godflesh, Frontline Assembly, Skinny Puppy and even Darkthrone (Fenriz makes a vocal appearance on the Darkthrone-like song “Absolut Dunkel Heit”), Red Harvest fashion some amazing and chaos-riddled tech metal.

I’d have to say that the over-used term industrial would be too limiting for these freaks – maybe extreme technical chaos (ETC) would be more suitable. Imagine combining sweeping atmospheric keys, squealing metal sounds (in the literal, industrial sense), dirty, distorted guitars, and a strong melodic sense all filtered through a very analog-sounding mix and you may get a fair approximation of Red Harvest’s masterwork. Apparently, they’ve already been doing well in Europe and have released a number of albums, but Cold Dark Matter serves as a grand intro to the U.S. (Relapse rereleased it with extra tracks in January).
(PO Box 4 3671 Notodden, Norway)