Red Harvest

After the success of last year's Cold Dark Matter, Norway's Red Harvest continue to hone their dark-edged industrial with all manners of spot-welded metal. After the moody intro "U.G.X.," the maniacally black metal-tinged "AEP" lunges directly for the throat like the first time you heard Strapping Young Lad's Heavy As A Really Heavy Thing. "Godtech" is more techno with Godflesh-styled growls, while the Ministry-like "Humanoia" even sports voice samples in the appropriate places, reminiscent of Psalm 69. "Dead" and the Neurosis-like title track decidedly tip their hats to old Malhavoc, while the grinding "CyberNaut" could be a homage to the recently departed Fear Factory. The brooding "Desolation" could be a Crawl or Puncture outtake, while a piercing cover of GGBH's "Dead Men Don't Rape" reveals their early influences. Two bonus tracks - "Final Scorn," from the New World Rage Music, album and a remix of "Fix, Hammer, Fix," from Cold Dark Matter - do little to separate the band from devilish raves in Oslo and beyond, however. Too much added techno relegates Red Harvest to the used metal pile - a sick transit, indeed.