Review by Chris Van Etten for Red Harvest - Sick Transit Gloria Mundi (2002)

This is the shit. Bleak and moody Industrial Metal for the Post-Apocalypse. Not much is danceable here (except maybe the first song “AEP”), this is more the sort of thing you listen to on headphones with your eyes closed than while driving. From what I understand, Red Harvest started as more of a generic thrash band (I listened to a little of their first LP and wasn’t impressed) but they evolved into something unique at this point. I definitely hear some Godflesh and even some Voivod in the guitar, and the overall vibe remains me a little of Neurosis. I don’t think those examples really give Red Harvest justice though. It’s NOT droney, or even sludgey. But a lot of it is slower and very melancholy. The setup is vocals, guitar, bass and (real) drums, with the synths playing a slightly more subordinate role, but coming to the forefront from time to time. The synth actually takes over completely on “Desolation,” and it’s awesome. The performance is great across the board, but I think I’m most impressed with bassist Thomas Brandt. I’ve been listening to this fairly regularly for the past few weeks and I’m still noticing things he plays that I hadn’t noticed before. They do a cover of “Dead Men Don’t Rape” by straight-up Industrial act G.G.F.H., which took a few spins to grow on me (despite the weirdness of the original, I think it’s the most straightforward track), but I think it would have made for a great single, if such things mattered in this arena. The reason “Sick Transit Gloria Mundi” gets a 5/5 is because I really can’t really find any flaws or weak points, and hell, I just like it. Why hasn’t this ever been released on vinyl?