HARVEST YEARS

A Cold Dead Body is the rather unfortunate name for a very good Italian metal band that unfortunately appears to be a "one-off" at this point in time. Formed in 2005, they released their only album Harvest Years in 2010 on Slow Burn Records, a Russian label. As always, metal subgenre labels are something of a mystery to me, but doing some research I've found that this band has acquired metal-zine labels such as progressive sludge, post-metal, and post-sludge. Make what you will of that. With my limited metal collection, they would sit on the same shelf as bands like Pelican, Pax Cecelia, Morningside, and Agalloch, and I think they're as good as any of those bands. This cool conceptual album delves into the human life cycle, the human condition, and our struggles with nature, technology, purpose, and death. It may be 15 years later now, but the topics would seem as relevant as ever.

When we get into the realm of extreme metal, I love a band that will pull back every so often for those "breathers" that I define as the softer moments, the quiet interludes, the sections that give the album contrast and a more satisfying listening experience. CDB's sound comes through in flying colors in this regard. Yes, they check the boxes of massive, layered guitars, crushing riffs, and extreme vocals often enough, and yet there are also contrasting moments with acoustic guitars, spacy keyboard, piano, violin, and softer male and female vocals. "Madre part 1&2" would be the example of such beautiful "breathers" with their acoustic/clean guitar softness dressed with keys, piano, and distant, low-key operatic female voice. The violin and the female voice are like lifelines when they appear, so effective and so lovely in the face of the aggression elsewhere on the album.

Another point here is that even when the vocals are full-on extreme, they are kept low enough in the mix to blend into the sound wall density around them. They are more like another instrument rather than pushed way to the front and louder than everything else like some bands do. This is really effective in my view and makes the album palatable even to those who may not appreciate extreme vocals. The tracks have clever hooks and satisfying melodies and emotions built into even the bombastic moments. It's a bummer that this band is apparently finished because I found this album more engaging and interesting than Agalloch's "The Mantle" or Pelican, personally. Anyone who loves varied and atmospheric metal would do well checking this out on their Bandcamp page. And if you can find the paper gatefold CD edition, you'll get some beautiful artwork to boot.

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