After plunging headlong into a full-scale Harakiri For The Sky obsession last year I was pleasantly surprised to hear only a few weeks ago that the band’s vocalist JJ had spread his wings ready for death or glory with his own solo project. Harakiri For The Sky is a blissful combination of post-hardcore, blackened crust and sludgy shoegaze with a depressing, almost harrowing, edge thanks in part to JJ’s excellent vocals. Intensely downbeat but sharply uplifting at the same time. Happily, if that’s the right word for music like this, Seagrave is not a million miles away from the sonic thrust of the main band – even if there are plenty of subtle differences that will make this interesting and a worth investigation for any Harakiri fans and fans of post-black and post-anythingyoufuckinglike genres everywhere.
Think Agrimonia, Downfall of Gaia, Nux Vomica or even, in parts, atmospheric black metal bands like Alcest. Stabwound relies on the same high-pitched, Harmonic-drenched intensity but the arrangements are stripped down and more straight forward making this all a little less claustrophobic than JJ’s main band. Definitely with its roots more in hardcore – the percussion here is definitely to the fore – and far less densely packed with post-black metal curve-balls. And, despite the raging vocals, all just a tad more mellow and, the bottom line here, Harakiri-lite. More space, then, for those chord progressions and sparsely delivered melodies to drift in and out of your consciousness and allow you to sink down into the pained, enforced self-reflection in the lyrics.
The end result is an interesting combination of all the styles mentioned but one I think that feels more rooted in post-rock ambience than a true musical exploration. JJ keeps the pace up in the mid-range or above for big chunks for some of the seven or eight minute songs and the driving repetition makes this almost more contemplative than truly set within the midst of trauma as I think was intended. The day after the night before – with your trials and tribulations lifted a little by the first rays of the sun rather than pressing in around you amid the closing walls of night. Sustained violent surges and some frenetic d-beat percussion (all the instruments are taken care of by JJ – here otherwise known as Jay Trainwreck) carry us along and, to be honest, I can imagine this will all sound like a bleakly gleaming heaven to some.
Perfectly balanced in many ways – not least the seamless production – even if anyone used to some of the above bands and Harakiri itself might find themselves left with pangs of hunger more of the anticipated interwoven hooks they might be used to. The answer is to simply resign yourself to the open simplicity of Seagrave and just enjoy it for what it is. A nice, intense diversion that will serve anyone who fancies the sound of post-black metal with a hardcore edge. A solid result overall ,then, and a decent release even if it doesn’t quite captivate in the way I was hoping.
(7/10 Reverend Darkstanley)
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