Best 2003 extreme metal album
Christopher Krause | Long Island, New York | 06/20/2006
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Human Harvest is the diary of a desperate man very much at odds with every aspect of society. Departing from the archtypal lyrics common to most death and deathgrind bands which mainly focus on depictions of gore, murder, drug use, rape and other forms of violence and sexual depravity - Circle of Dead Children presents some profoundly philosophic and insightful lyrics in Human Harvest. The lyrics are presented in a neo-transcendtalist poetic prose that manages to convey great disillusionment, frustration and rage.
Central lyrical motifs include: humanity's unnatural rise to the "peak of evolution's tower" and the peversion that brings, the eradication of "tumor mankind", governmental sophistry and thought opression in "flawless domination," humanity's destructive greed, impulse and tendency to instantly gratify and remain bovine, the role that drugs has to do with keeping the people pacified, apathethic and idiotic, automation, fear and mediocrity in society, the ongoing charade of normalcy and achievment that masquerades on top of a rotten foundation (think of Hamlet, King Claudius' speech in Act II, Scene II in which he mourns for King Hamlet's death but celebrates in the same breath after the marrying of his wife and the crowning of a new king, himself) and the destruction of nature and natural logic.
"My Supernatural (Bells Ring Slowly)"
This wound cannot be patched
as my blood runs gelatinous, sweet and black
Only to be tasted by the chafed lips of the inflictor, a mirror
The heavy-handed swift punishing judge
whose sentence is lifelong and indifferent
as puddles of stagnant water
You cannot stop the bleeding with patches alone,
as saturation will reject all but infliction
Reparations all slide off into oblivion
The hunter and the hunted have become one
I was borne for self-destruction
Borne to bleed and freeze
Tears used to jimmy dried scabs of blood from these sheets
Pills to control, to redirect, to attempt to unlearn
Unsatisfied with what this world has had to offer
Satisfaction when the heart stiffens and succumbs
to the hunter's hands, gelatinous, sweet and black
No more pills, no more adjournment
The higher the walls around
the more I will jerk them down upon me
It has become easier to bury the bodies
than to bury the memories and impulsive thoughts
that serve only to confuse and burden
One hand on the shovel, the other around my throat
Borne to bleed and freeze
I have broken all the warm hands that heal
Bones snap and shatter
Muscle tissue around the eyes stretch
and quiver like a fish skinned alive
The only honest satisfaction
Cold and weak, I hope none remember
I will be happy to forget
Circle of Dead Children is technically an extremely brutal band.
Josama Bin Horvath offers some of the best vocals in extreme metal - with inhuman curdles, piercing and demonic shrieks, and toxic, wet lows unlike any band you will ever hear. Amazingly Joe manages to perform these vocals with no distortion. The instrumentation perfectly accompanies Joe's vocals and the overall mood of the lyrics - the vocals never sound disconnected as is the case with many death metal bands.
There isn't any band that comes to mind that sounds like Circle of Dead Children technically. Although you're going to hear some classic deathgrind conventions the implementation of these conventions along with heavy influences from necrodeath black metal, hardcore and extreme death metal promises a unique, addictive sound. The album has a droning, dark, organic guitar track that seems designed to mainly support the vocals - which it does perfectly. Rarely at times in this album the guitars sound Darkthrone-esque for a few moments (usually during blast beats) but then return to support the vocals. The drums are hardcore influenced and provide a perfect, dynamic tempo for the entire album which often brings the action into a slow, vicious interlude only to explode once more into the extreme grinding that dominates most of the album. Unlike other death metal pieces, Human Harvest has a varied tempo that shifts many times throughout one song, making it easily listenable and rememberable. Circle of Dead Children makes use of some terrifying industrial and electronic samples on this album as well. Although its pretty difficult to describe Circle's sound in this review - rest assured that it is refreshing and unlike anything you have heard. The coming together of three very innovative tracks - guitar, drum and vocals, all individually offering something progressive to the table in their own right, make Circle of Dead Children one of the best extreme metal bands around.
Overall Human Harvest is a huge landmark in the evolution of the deathgrind genre and extreme metal in general - it offers insightful, philosophic lyrics and a progresive, unique, evolutionary sound that proves that its OK to be influenced by other types of music. Human Harvest is THE 2003 extreme metal album of the year, and if you havn't heard it yet, you're doing yourself a disservice."