I would probably characterise my feelings towards HFTS at the point of receiving this promo as ambivalent. Not a bad place for an objective review to start, to be fair. But this review might never have come into being because of that ambivalence, being honest. When I spotted the 70 minutes runtime, I wasn’t immediately inclined to press play, I’ll confess. But then I spotted a few things that piqued my interest. Not least of all, a cover of “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” by Radiohead. I also noted that this was one of two bonus tracks, without which, the record clocks in at a somewhat more lightweight one hour(ish). I then clocked the final track of the album proper features Serena Cherry from UK alternative heavyweights Svalbard. I was interested.
When I scanned the rest of the track listing, I also couldn’t help but notice the overtly emo tone of the song titles. “Keep Me Longing”, “Without You I’m Just A Sad Song” and “I Was Just Another Promise You Couldn’t Keep” aren’t cut from the more typical black metal cloth obviously, but then neither are Harakiri For The Sky, so it’s maybe not a huge surprise. The duo (MS and JJ) have been making classically-inflected post-black metal for a long time now. Since 2011, to be precise. And although they have stylistically stayed in (broadly speaking) the same place, it would not be accurate to say they’re the same band as in their early days. JJ himself however, agrees that their lyrical content remains true to their original focus on “Love, life and death”. Having listened to, and enjoyed, the last couple of records, I am struck by a largely intangible difference in this record. Could it be confidence? Comfort, even? Not comfort actually, as that suggests a level of coziness that is almost antithetical to this record’s sound. Let me try again…
The record reaches for many different places, emotionally. There is rage, there is loss, there is frustration, there is light and there is something akin to contentedness? Not in the tonality maybe, but possibly in the creation of these songs which has somehow bled into the execution? It manifests itself in almost exclusively positive ways, I should make clear. A sure-footedness. A certainty. It can at times feel slightly contrary to the subject matter, which is rooted in anxiety and self-doubt, yet somehow it doesn’t detract from those feelings being delivered incredibly well. As ever, the band’s familiarity with classical and orchestral composition leads to frequent dalliance with quite extreme dynamics, and the confidence I mentioned earlier certainly shows in those transitions, maybe more than any other part of the record. I’m not going to say they’re masters of their craft or anything quite so plain and obsequious, but they are vastly more experienced and gifted in those passages than most other bands operating in this arena.
I don’t know that they’ll ever have the emotive crescendos of MOL, the impassioned specificity of Svalbard or the unfettered beauty of Alcest, but I also don’t think HFTS want to be any of those bands. To their credit, they do what they do extremely well and in a style which is their own. They’re kind of a post-black metal all-rounder, which I know is the most ‘damning with faint praise’ thing I could possibly say, but it is sincerely meant as a big compliment. As this will be mostly read by folks on the other side of the Atlantic, I’ll use an NBA frame of reference. Scotty Pippen. He could do pretty much anything a player needed to. Including dunking from the free throw line and delivering some of the best clutch plays ever seen. But being a really good offensive and defensive player, in a team that also featured MJ and Rodman means that fewer people get excited about Scotty Pippen. Rightly…or wrongly? I don’t know. What I do know is that we should recognise the qualities that HFTS have, because they have them in abundance, consistently, and should not be overlooked. A lesson for me, there.