Harakiri for the Sky - Scorched Earth
by Kevin Wierzbicki
It's been a few years since this Austrian band consisting of singer J.J. (Michael V. Wahntraum) and multi-instrumentalist M.S. (Matthias Sollak) have released an album but their fans will likely find that it was well worth the wait. Harakiri for the Sky is generally thought of as a post black metal band but there is more to them than that; they could easily fit into the progressive metal genre and opening track "Heal Me" for example sounds like they took some cues from Queensryche as they mashup a big melodic rock sound with very heavy passages that at times come close to thrash. Fans needn't worry about fitting these guys into any pigeonholes though; they can just play the music and rock along happily for about an hour. M.S. even plays a delicate piano intro on "Keep Me Longing;" that mood quickly dissipates as band drummer Krimh kicks in with a pummeling sound that features on much of the album. The melody really soars on "Keep Me Longing" as J.J. sings with an appropriate amount of emotion to match the song title, growling out his lyrics but never crossing into the realm of unintelligible death growls. And despite the album's title, there is much hope and positivity in many of the lyrics, but sometimes a little despair as in "Without You I'm Just a Sad Song" which is cheerless with lyrics about a former (or about to be former) lover like "You'll always be my favorite ghost." And hard rock radio will eat up
Scorched Earth, especially cuts like "No Graves But the Sea" which is clearly aimed at garnering serious airplay, and "With Autumn I'll Surrender" which recalls U2 for a minute, at least until J.J.'s vocals kick in. The album closes with "Too Late for Goodbye" where Krimh is up front with his pounding, again demonstrating what an important role he plays in this seven song set.
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