Review of Black Harvest - White Light Came Down

Well, like Harley Carlson pointed out in his review of Mute, here we are with a spruced-up version of the former in White Light Came Down, which can only mean that Black Harvest underwent a lot of changes since their last release. For the most part, said changes have almost nothing to do with the band’s overall sound, but they do pertain to the recording’s production, addition of new tracks, and newfound home with Oak Knoll Productions.

Obviously, the uninitiated should begin with White Light Came Down instead of any of its predecessors. Plus, for those of you who fancy the blending of subgenres (death, black, doom, et cetera), Black Harvest have much to offer in that category as well. At times the quartet borrow liberally from Agalloch such as in “Remnant” and “New Year’s Day,” and the latter subtly draws from Swedish purveyors Opeth. Yes, Harley mentioned that. I remember. To move along, though, “New Year’s Day” is charming due to the serene instrumentation and witty lyrics until the first half is capsized by the heavy waves of the other half. I hate to get all NIN Chan up in here – by namedropping a band no one on the planet has ever heard of – but the clean vocals are not unlike those of Christian rawkers Glisten, who may or may not be active. Again, White Light Came Down parallels Mute by clocking in at roughly fifty minutes, and a cover of Hypocrisy’s “Apocalypse” leads the former to its timely death.

Dig up Mp3 War victor “Die, Lavinia” from your hard drive, refresh yourself, and then decide whether it’s in your best interest to become immersed in this gloomy album. Needless to say, it’s not a giant step forward for Black Harvest, citing the opinion that rerecordings never are, but this serves as both a nice introduction and clue as to what we can expect in the future.

Release Details

Black Harvest

White Light Came Down

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