The Man-Eating Tree - Harvest review
| Band: | The Man-Eating Tree |
| Album: | Harvest |
| Style: | Suomi metal |
| Release date: | November 23, 2011 |
| A review by: | Milena |
01. Harvest Bell
02. At The Green Country Chapel
03. Code Of Surrender
04. Armed
05. Like Mute Companions
06. Exhaled
07. Down To The Color Of The Eye
08. Incendere
09. All You Kept Free
10. Karsikko
11. Everything Dies [Type O Negative cover] [bonus]
Rating in words: pleasant, seductive, well-structured.
The Man-Eating Tree, what a symbolic band name. The band has grown so much over the course of one year, effectively branching* into new territories while at the same time staying firmly rooted** in the same ground - the product of this wonderful change is one of the best gothic metal albums of 2011. Their debut, Vine, an album nominated for the Metal Storm Awards as well, came across as a bit pedestrian to me. It had the same balance of wonderfully gentle and intricate elements, but failed to produce memorable tunes that would stick to my head. Harvest is an enormous improvement in terms of songwriting - it is a lot catchier and more cohesive. While Vine relied on a slightly brooding atmosphere, Harvest is all about song development and progression, which makes it a lot better in my eyes.
Although the focus has been shifted to achieving qualities different than on the first release, the base of The Man-Eating Tree's sound hasn't changed between the two albums. The key word here is layering. Every element alone is soft and intricate - very gentle guitar melodies, keyboards mostly adopting the sound of a classic piano, creative but simple rhythms and, as a cherry on top, the uniquely expressive vocals of Tuomas Tuominen. When there are displays of raging emotion, they're confined to one instrument alone, while others are keeping up with their delicate dance. And yet, when you join them all together, their collective weight crushes you.
I must note that this is one of the bands that makes me wish we made "atmospheric metal" or "(melodic) dark metal" legit sub-genres. There is little or no connection to goth rock or gothic metal of the 90's, but every dreary, bleak and/or overly melodic band is being lumped into the gothic category nevertheless. This might be a sign of genre progression, or, on the other hand, a sign that we use sub-genres as means to describe the atmosphere rather than the sound. This is not the only sub-genre with an identity crisis, but I guess that if it isn't broken, you don't fix it.
Of course, since this band is composed of skilled professionals of (semi) famous Finnish bands, you'll find no flaws there; even though Tuominen is the shining star on the album (he reminds me slightly of Eddie Vedder!), and certain tough guys (hi Rod) have admitted going gay over his wondrous voice, the rest of the band doesn't lag behind at all. The production is top notch as well; the only flaw of this album, and the only song I skip is "Down To The Color Of The Eye", an attempt at delivering a heavier punch that wasn't constructed very well. Lovers of darkness and melodies in their metal should consider this a recommendation.
* Sorry about this, I like lame puns.
** At least you didn't get a lame dendrophilia joke.
 | Written on 12.02.2012 by A part of the team since December 2011. 7.0 means the album is good. |
Comments
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Comments: 47
Visited by: 253 users
| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374  |
Now I can't back up from anything I said because of this review ahahahahha. The only thing that is funnier is the "tough guy" tag.  ... But yeah, a really good album imo. Long time ago since I was moved by clean vocals and this kind of music in general.Good review too, although i couldn't stop groaning during the first couple of sentences.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Boxcar Willy yr a kook Posts: 9155  |
Maybe I should check this out... maybe.
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603  |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 12.02.2012 at 18:02 Why, you like the first album too?  I liked it too, but it bored me quickly, this is a lot better.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
Written by Milena on 12.02.2012 at 18:25 Haven't heard it, I meant the horrible puns.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 12.02.2012 at 18:26 I apologized for those  I thought of throwing in a Botanist pun but couldn't think of anything as horrible.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
Written by Milena on 12.02.2012 at 18:27 Hhahhaha yeah, Joe really went overboard with that one but I like bad puns anyway... A masochistic attitude.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Unhealer Eclecticist Posts: 2311  |
I checked them when going through the gothic nominees, not my cup of tea but you can tell they have some attractive. And hey, your writing is outstanding. By reading your review I could actually picture the sound of the album and its damn close to what I remember, that is the real success in a review for me.
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Unhealer on 12.02.2012 at 18:31 Oh gee, thanks glad to know people check out the nominees instead of whining about the placement/the nominees themselves
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Susan Smeghead Elite Posts: 6941  |
I miss Fall Of The Leafe, the vocalist's previous band. I was so excited to hear about Man Eating Tree and that I'd get to enjoy his voice again! I so want to like this band but with this and the debut I just haven't heard anything very special. Perhaps I should give both albums more listens but unfortunately I just get bored whenever I try. It's lovely music, well done and beautiful... just not for me I think. Sad! (But for the record I LOVE the puns!!!!!)
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Susan on 13.02.2012 at 03:11 That's how I felt about Heavenwood this year
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Windrider Raureif Posts: 684  |
Nice review, I've always wanted to check this band out but never found time... I also like this 'new' review style, well done!
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Windrider on 13.02.2012 at 15:14 I don't have a new review style, it's an attempt of the old style after a month of almost no writing If you mean "the rating in words"... I might need a numeral rating again to complete it. After some time, when I read my reviews again, even I am not sure whether I was positive about something on a 9-level or on an 8-level if I read only the words...
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
Written by Milena on 13.02.2012 at 11:20 Same here... left me totally meh.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| malaikat Posts: 405  |
I love the "rating in words". That's the reason why I regularly visit Allmusic when writing an article on some popular music, they pretty much say everything about a band/artist with just a dozen or so keywords (which describe the musical "feeling" and atmosphere of the said band/artist). Reviews in general can benefit from this impressionistic approach.
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| Windrider Raureif Posts: 684 |
Written by Milena on 13.02.2012 at 15:21 It's actually quite cool because people need to read the review and don't come, see the rating, say 'aha' and go again without having read anything! I also skip the rating as a number when I really want people to read what I think about, if the album is important to me e.g...
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702  |
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Merchant of Doom on 13.02.2012 at 18:36 This sounds nothing like Entwine and I'm not saying that just because I don't like Entwine a lot
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702 |
Written by Milena on 13.02.2012 at 22:11 Maybe I should have said that the singer sounds a lot like Entwine's Mika Taurianen... apologies for the misleading comment... 
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Merchant of Doom on 14.02.2012 at 11:04 Ah, but he doesn't Just kidding, they have *some* similarities, but ultimately their voices and singing are pretty different.
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| Merchant of Doom Posts: 702 |
Written by Milena on 14.02.2012 at 11:53 mmm... I still think it's Mika in disguise.... 
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| Enoch Account deleted |
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| Slayer666 Posts: 2466  |
The chorus on "Armed" is catchy beyond belief, and that Type O Negative cover is nice. The rest... pretty meh, methinks.
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by Slayer666 on 22.02.2012 at 19:45 Like Mute Companions is even catchier to me. Mmm hmm. Which 2011 gothic nominees did you like?
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
Written by Milena on 23.02.2012 at 02:18 Code Of Surrender was easily the catchiest chorus for me.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 23.02.2012 at 16:24 Surrendered, surrendee-aahhaa---red!
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
Written by Milena on 23.02.2012 at 16:46 My favorite part is actually when it kicks... It's really powerful after the little silence. Inside the moment But outside of the code of this...MOTIONLESS DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWN 
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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| Milena gloom cookie Staff Posts: 4603 |
Written by X-Ray Rod on 23.02.2012 at 16:50 Uh, now I really have to play it. I'll look at your album rates now, but so far I don't think there has been an album we've both enjoyed... well, we listen to very different genres so there's not much of a surprise, but still
---- 7.0 means the album is good
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| X-Ray Rod Skandino Staff Posts: 18374 |
Written by Milena on 23.02.2012 at 16:53 Ava Inferi - Onyx Graveyard - Hisingen Blues (I even liked it more than you )In Flames albums Nightwish - Oceanborn Paradise Lost albums That's pretty much it besides this one.
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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