Until the Void - The Harvest

Until the Void is a dark ambient and experimental project whose sole focus is taking the listener on a journey through horror depths. His releases include the single 'All Hail the Face', the follow-up EP "Invocation of the Face", his double "CASE: QTN20", and finally, the subject of this review, "The Harvest". Founder of the project Christian Harris has stated that the album has been "inspired by my recent move from the country into the city". Continuing on that thought, Harris has stated that "The Harvest" takes the listener through his mental journey into the new environment and life that comes with it. What "The Harvest" turns out to be, then, is a minimal synth album that teeters on the edge of being good while lacking overall substance needed to get there. 

The forty-four second intro to the album, 'Enter the Grove', is spooky to say the very least. Metallic clangs start it off and a build-up of ambiance only adds to the atmosphere. This leads directly into 'Incantation' which doesn't really add much to the song aside from synths belonging to an alien sci-fi movie and a few electronic notes. Combining both of these songs for a two-minute and forty-eight second listening period made me wish that Until the Void had done a bit more.



For the majority of 'Birth' there is one synth line that shifts pitches through the two-minute and fourteen second duration. If there was effort on this song it does not sound like much was put into it; it sounds like an amateur effort. The consistency of the xylophone on 'Hex' serves as a break from the nothingness on "The Harvest" thus far. The whirring noise in the background combined with the xylophone gives off an ominous feeling as if something is watching me and I love it. Atmospheric noise rumbles throughout 'Harvest'. While it is not the most complex arrangement in the dark ambient field I've heard before, it is well done and, again, added some much needed spookiness to the album. 

The atmospheric noise on 'Rot' stems in the foreground as another curious synth line follows it throughout the song. To me, that synth line is too high pitched at times. It makes me wince and I want to take my headphones off whenever it plays. 'Decay', though it begins off slow, is an interesting experimental noise piece that sounds as if I am listening to some force being disturbed in their sleep. It's a good track that awakens my imagination. The outro to the album 'Exit' is a thirty-seven second blast of static noise. Considering the amount of tracks that I have heard from the noise scene like this, I completely disregard it and throw it to the wolves; it's not fun to listen to nor does it add anything to the album. 

Until the Void's "The Harvest" thus becomes an album that's not difficult to judge, but one that's mixed and matched in terms of creativity. Firstly, there are songs that I skip over on the album such as 'Birth' and 'Exit' thanks to them being too minimal or too standard for their genre. Other songs on the album find themselves in the middle ground, such as the first two songs, where there's not much to them but there's potential. Then there are one or two good songs, such as 'Hex', which really puts me into an eighties horror mindset. But averaging out the pros and cons of the album, I find myself hitting a middle mark. It's not the worst dark ambient or experimental album I've ever come across, nor is it the best. It's smack dab in the middle. Thus, I give "The Harvest" a five out of ten. 

This review was commissioned through our Ko-fi page.
Aug 17 2021