Band:	Mutilation Rites
Album:	Harbinger
Style:	Black metal
Release date:	July 22, 2014
A review by:	Auntie Sahar

01. Black Pyramid
02. Exhaling Or Breathing In
03. Tactical Means Of Ouroboros
04. Gravitational Collapse
05. Contaminate
06. Suffer The Children
07. Ignus Fatuus
08. Conspiracy Of Silence

Black metal as it is in 2014 is a curious creature. On the one hand, you have bands seemingly hell bent on incorporating whatever non-BM sounds they can find into their mix, boldly pushing the boundaries of the genre. On the other, you have those sticking to a sound more rooted in tradition. Mutilation Rites sit in a bit of an odd position between these two, not exactly being able to be placed too far in either category.

Harbinger, the band's sophomore effort, is essentially more of the same. The formula here is pretty ambiguous, being an interesting blend of black metal, crust, and thrash. With elements from those last two, the music is surprisingly a lot more groovy than is usual for BM, as on "Gravitational Collapse," and "Tactical Means Of Ouroborus" even achieving some doom-like tempos. For those who like their black metal slower than usual and head bob-inducing, this will surely be a positive feature of the album.

However, despite this blend of influences, Harbinger ultimately fails to soar that much off the ground, mostly due to the fact that it doesn't really engage the listener too far from either direction. Balance is always good, but in a way with this album it somewhat feels as though Mutilation Rites went for too much of a "something for everyone" approach. Every track seems to cram the crust, BM, and thrash influences together, and it would've been a bit nicer if these elements were more evenly distributed throughout the album: a fast track here, a slow and heavy one there, etc.

At the end of the day, Harbinger is definitely one of those "good but not great" sort of albums. The riffs are are hard hitting and well delivered, proving once more that American black metal tends to be more pummeling and bulldozing than its European counterpart, but they ultimately fail to really go anywhere, or build to any sort of a climax. If you're looking for good black/thrash more rooted in a traditional sound, this may be the album for you, but if you're more interested in the more bizarre left field that BM has to offer, I think it's pretty safe to say that you can pass this one over.

Listen on Bandcamp and tell me how wrong I am.