HARVEST GULGALTHA – Ancient Woods

The album artwork and overall presentation of this great looking digipak immediately caught my eye and seemed intriguing. It is therefore with a profound sense of satisfaction that I can tell you, my freaky underground friends, that this American outfit delivers a potent and effective slab of crushing death metal with quite a few black metal flavors and nuances to it. It is essentially a mixture of black metal and death metal, if you will.

There is an emphasis on old-school riffing that recalls some of the early classics of the death metal scene, but the thick, pulsating, and malevolent atmosphere of Ancient Woods is something else entirely and veers more towards the black metal-esque end of the spectrum. In addition, there is an incredibly good flow to these seven menacing hymns, and things evolve organically from beginning to end. In many ways, the aura of this concise and well-structured record has a brooding and occasionally somber sheen to it that appeals to me greatly and never fails to suck me in whenever I spin the CD, and the compositions are robust as fuck and sustain their momentum throughout. Having said that, a bit more variety and arguably also a few more twists, turns, and surprises in places would have made the disc an even better listen, but I really do appreciate and admire the singular vision that is inherent within the song material here, and let there be no doubt that the record slays.

This evocative opus bodes very well for the future, and I am curious as to what this obscure entity will come up with next, so if a disquieting vibe gets you off, you need to check this exquisitely dark piece of work out. Quality black/death metal reigns supreme!