Artist: Harvest Gulgaltha
Country: USA
Label: Godz Ov War Productions
Formats: Cassette tape / CD
Year: 2022
The anonymous American trio that is Harvest Gulgaltha returns with their sophomore effort, five years after their debut. The enigmatic Black/Death Metal combo has a history of mind-bending ambience and impenetrable darkness and to that path they continue to walk on ‘Ancient Woods’, which was released on both analogue formats (vinyl and cassette tape) as well as on CD by Polish Godz Ov War Productions by the end of last year.
As on the previous work, Harvest Gulgaltha leans mainly on that oppressive atmosphere and fierce darkness, pale and depraved. The riffs are not written to provide a solid groove or a good rhythm. On the contrary, the songs are strung together in a long rut that is somewhat reminiscent of Aosoth’s later work in terms of atmosphere and repetitiveness (minus the vicious hypnotic effect). The whole thing is quite reminiscent of a nightmarish delirium, a soundscape steeped in discomfort and agony.
Harvest Gulgaltha again does not deliver music that will be equally easy for everyone to digest. But anyone who is not too anxious and fancies a slightly less chaotic Teitanblood combined with elements of Ævangelist and Aosoth is cordially invited to immerse themselves in ‘Ancient Woods’.
