No matter what is unfolding around us, for some, there is a certain comfort found in music. A place where they can explore their innermost thoughts and release feelings of sorrow, anger, anxiety, and everything in between, it is a safe haven locked away from the world.
The story for many who decide to put a pen to paper or pick up an instrument for the first time, some find the most comfort emerged into the darkness notes stroked. Such is the case with the Austria band Harakiri For The Sky, which has been wandering in the shadows since 2011. Prolifically releasing five albums in nine years between 2012 and 2021, now in 2025, they return with their eighth studio album, Scorched Earth.
A follow-up to 2022’s Aokigahara MMXXII and Harakiri for the Sky MMXXII, Scorched Earth is a collection featuring seven new original songs that arrived on January 24, 2025, through AOP Records. The duo of M.S. (guitar, bass, songwriting) and J.J. (vocals, lyrics) finds new ways to dive deep into an abyss of dream-like melodies and painstaking subject matter. Referenced as a Post-Black Metal band, Harakiri For The Sky has forever and always utilized atmosphere to their advantage, which can be heard as far back as their 2012 self-titled debut.
Defined by guitar melodies that dance between Black Metal and Doom Metal, J.J.’s tortured bellows over the top only add to the intensity. Factors which have earned Harakiri For The Sky an international following where they performed live in varied regions, it seems fitting to find them now touring North America from February into March 2025 with Finland’s Swallow the Sun, just weeks after Scorched Earth arrives digitally, but also as a digipak CD, or double LP vinyl.
Timed perfectly, the overwhelming emotion amidst an initial listen to Scorched Earth is one that finds you drowning in sorrow. With that being said, even deep inside the bleak mood, the melodies intertwined in each song (from “Heal Me, Keep Me Longing,” “Without You I’m Just A Sad Song,” to “No Graves But The Sea”) is a glimmer of light. It is ironic, considering how inherently dark these songs are lyrical. Still, it seems that Harakiri For The Sky is not only affected by personal experiences in life but the unraveling of the world surrounding them, too… hence the album title Scorched Earth.
In truth, it is hard to find hope when it seems it is fading into the night, but Harakiri For The Sky’s Scorched Earth reminds you that the human spirit will find to live another day. Yes, these songs have some deep-rooted despair, but you can sense a feeling of maturity and wisdom in the words that only come from living.
Overall, Scorched Earth is a blissful atmospheric blend of raw Black, Doom, and even Progressive Metal that is consistently engaging. That is why Cryptic Rock gives the latest Harakiri For The Sky album 4.5 out of 5 stars.
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