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Blog Categories Review Fell Harvest - The Dying - Reviewed By thoseonceloyal!

Fell Harvest - The Dying - Reviewed By thoseonceloyal! Saturday August 19 2023, 5:12 PM

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Fell Harvest - The Dying - Reviewed By thoseonceloyal ! Check it out here at this link: https://thoseonceloyal.wordpress.com/2023/07/04/review-fell-harvest-the-dying/

Review by Sandre the Giant

‘The Dying’ is the second record from Wyoming’s Fell Harvest, and looks to build on their debut record ‘Pale Light in a Dying World’. The band’s sound is somewhere between classic early 90s death/doom and a more modern thrash/groove sound. I’m not even sure how that works but ‘Pale Light…’ was a really fun listen so I’m expecting good things from this.

What makes Fell Harvest’s genre alchemy work is their grasp of atmospherics. While their music has much more energy than the likes of My Dying Bride, for example, they employ the same morose melodicism and gloom over their riffs and allow it to really develop. Opener ‘A Killing Frost’ is a great example of this; a bit of a gallop saturated in a doom atmosphere that brings to mind the likes of Type O Negative. You’ve got the lumbering Yorkshire-isms of the title track, the soulful swelling and sinking of ‘God of the Oak’ and the grooving stomp of ‘Charlatan’s Reek’ as well. I think the modern vibe they’re going for is a little of modern, well 2008, Metallica, but with a more Paradise Lost 2005-era gloom to it. It certainly leads to some powerful riffs and desolate atmospherics, like the groaning intro to ‘Of Blood and Black Earth’. There are a number of threats of becoming something more groove based and accessible but Fell Harvest suck it back into the doomy interior and never quite let those instincts escape.

Every time you think Fell Harvest are going to commit to the darkness, a catchy chorus or uplifting section appears to hook you in deep. ‘The Dying’ is a record happy to work with the dichotomies of life and death, misery and joy. It has some genuinely great gothic doom moments, tempered with modern metal sensibilities in a record that shouldn’t really be this good but is. Fell Harvest have this incredible sense of control over their music, never allowing anything to develop further than the song requires of it. The restraint is admirable and it has made this a better record for it.

Release Date: 5/19/2023

FFO: My Dying Bride, Type O Negative, Samael, Rotting Christ

Location: Cheyenne, WY

Short Bio: Based in Cheyenne Wyoming, Fell Harvest strives to inject the somberness of 90s death doom with the energy of modern melodic death and thrash. Formed in 2018 by frontman Joseph Fell, they released their first EP just in time for the pandemic and its accompanying disruptions. The band spent the following year writing and recording a full length. The resulting effort, Pale Light in a Dying World, was released in July of 2021. The title track for this record was featured on “Doomed and Stoned in Colorado” in April of that year.

Combining influences such as My Dying Bride, Rotting Christ, Type O Negative and Metallica, Fell Harvest’s overall sound is at once familiar and challenging, taking listeners to well known places via new and exciting musical paths. The band’s current lineup consists of founder, bassist and vocalist Joseph Fell, Guitarist Liam Duncan and drummer Mike Smith.

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