Review: “Cursed Creation” by HAR

“After our previous demo recording, we wanted to take certain elements already existing but to push the intensity to totally new heights of relentlessness. This attitude really informed the writing process and forced us to push ourselves to where execution is much more unforgiving and demanding. [It’s the] culmination of the band’s constant search and redefinition of its own vision of intense and evil black/death metal. In both, this and the previous release, we were already quite locked on certain visual approach more focused on abstract representations of what we think the music expresses and going further away from the classic death metal themes and the usual figures associated with it. That’s why Tim Grieco’s ability to create multi-layered textures which are very intense and evil captured us from the very beginning. For this work, we wanted to portray something violent and distorted yet monochromatic and far from the usual imagery.” ~ Daniel Atai, guitars

A Berlin based Blackened Death Metal act of Israeli descent, HAR (or “Mountain” in Hebrew) have been around for more than a decade. In that time they have unleashed a pair of EPs in 2014’s “Baal Ha’ov” and 2018’s “Visitation” as well as a demo in 2019 titled “Anti-Shechinah” has they sharpened their tools and heightened their senses for the moment they could deliver a debut album that matched their vision. At various points the band have been a five piece but now comprise the original three members, Deathsiege, Putrescine and former Kever drummer Asaf Meiden, Putrescine and former Venomous Skeleton guitarist Daniel Atai and former TamutAmen vocalist Ofek Saadi. Combining themes of Black Magic, Necromancy and Darkness with technical mastery and unadulterated hatred into their already established formula “Cursed Creation” is an intriguing prospect…

Showing absolutely no mercy “Submerged in Cacophony” begins the storm of raw and abrasive Blackened Death Metal sounds by taking a papyrus from the ancient scriptures. Sinister and menacing riffs attack from all angles, creating swirling atmospheres in Black Metal while refusing to surrender the power of the strangle hold of Death Metal that gives them a killer instinct. Pulverising percussive battery provides perpetual forward motion at breakneck speed, while an echo effect on the vocals from Saadi makes it sound like the vocals were recorded in a cave despite the cleaner sounds of the instrumentation. It’s a fine balance but its as affective as a chainsaw at cutting through things it probably shouldn’t. Throwing their shotgun shells in the fire and then running like hell, “Invoking Evil Spirit” goes faster and harder with unbelievable technical speed riffing and the odd whammy bar inspired squeal to set the teeth on edge like nails on a chalk board. Atai must have seriously calloused hands from the decades of practice in dedication to nail the lightening fast performances. A few moments of Death Groove rise to the surface between the Black Metal onslaughts during the skull battering “Chronocide“, a nice touch given how bludgeoning their sonic assault on the senses can be. By this point Saadi is pushing his demonic vocal boundaries to their absolute limit and it’s all fire and brimstone. Avant-garde flavours of bands like Imperial Triumphant begin to creep into the speed riff attack by the time title track “Cursed Creation” rears its ugly head and a fleeting solo is a moment to cherish because the rest of it is a nail bomb that decimates the weak.

As if the unholy trio haven’t done enough to destroy our ear drums in the first half of the record, “Poisonous Entity” takes their breakneck speed approach and increases the intensity. So much so that at points this one is hard to keep up with, the brain getting its dopamine fix before you can truly take everything on board. That of course lends itself to the longevity of the record but we are of course grateful for a moments respite in Death Metal in the epicentre and some almost tribal drum fills in the later half. It all adds up to creating a point of difference that separates HAR from the bands that know only one kind of evil with eerie interlude “Infernal Passage” setting the stage for a grand finale that defies all odds. A beast that lurches and lunges with each attack “Shachat – Seven Halls of Defilement” treads the path that others fear to, a cigarette paper between Black, Death and Grind stylings all shoehorned into one three and a half minute tune. There is a conspiracy theory that some of these tracks might work better if they were trimmed into shorter, sharper shocks but the dedication of HAR to stick to their guns is to be admired. After all the blistering infernos that the trio have conjured for the discerning listener to endure, one might assume that they are not capable of creating something haunting and eerie. Well “Metaphysical Stench” has a moment of that which lingers like her ghost in the fog before the descent into madness begins once more, thus proving that the weapon is indeed part of their arsenal should they choose to use it. A lethal dose, this one may test the sanity of those faint of heart and weak of mind because this is Extreme Metal in its purist form [7.5/10]

Track Listing

1. Submerged in Cacophony
2. Invoking Evil spirit
3. Chronocide
4. Cursed Creation
5. Poisonous Entity
6. Infernal Passage
7. Shachat – Seven Halls of Defilement
8. Metaphysical Stench

“Cursed Creation” by HAR is out 23rd August 2024 via Dark Descent Records and is available for pre-order over at bandcamp.