The Austrian duo Harakiri for the Sky have been making waves in the post-black/shoegaze scene for nearly a decade, and for various reasons. Number one among these has to be the accessibility they brought to the genre – making the depressive suicidal black metal (DSBM) championed by the likes of Shining or Lifelover a far more palatable, cohesive listen despite its hugely unpleasant thematic content. And all they needed to do to accomplish this was inject a stronger rock sensibility into the proceedings. Yes, they still cram their music to the brim with melody/countermelody interplay between acoustic and distorted instruments and they still dredge their vocal performances from the darkest depths of a Zoloft binge, but they achieve this with clear song structures, excellent production values...
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