III: Trauma is the third album from Austrian extreme metal act Harakiri for the Sky, set to be released in July 2016 on Art of Propaganda. Calling themselves 'post black metal', that description is not far off, and I'd say add in a healthy dose of melodic death metal as well as gloomy, gothic doom for good measure. Comprised of just M. S. ( all instruments, songwriting) and J. J. (vocals, lyrics), the duo have crafted 8 epic sounding tracks here that fluctuate between melancholy yet gorgeous post metal soundscapes and raging black metal fury. There's no denying the love that went into creating stellar pieces such as "Funeral Dreams", "Calling the Rain", "Thanatos", and the somber "Dry the River", each one stuffed with a mix of lilting guitar chords, frantic tremolo riffing, and more doom laden dirges as the tortured vocal wails flail over the top of it all. My main gripe with III: Trauma however is that by the time you get to the last cut, "Bury Me", you've already experienced 7 tracks in the 8-10 minute range, and fatigue has really started to set in. These songs, and the album itself, is way longer than it needs to be, and after a while the tunes become interchangeable as there's just not enough variety going on. That being said, cut this down to 40 or 45 minutes, and you have a very enjoyable set of post black metal with lots of textures and plenty of mood. Overall, plenty to like here, just be prepared for the heft of it all.
Track Listing
01 Calling the rain
02 Funeral Dreams
03 Thanatos
04 This Life As a Dagger
05 The traces we leave
06 Viaticum
07 Dry the river
08 Bury me
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