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SF106
Harrowed
Chaotic Nonentity LP



01. Stark Terrors
02. Postmodern Prison
03. One Hundred Years
04. Disconnexion
05. Inauthenticide
06. Derelict
07. Living Unknown
08. Interlude I
09. Coward
10. Interlude II
11. Disused Limbs
12. Chaotic Nonentity

Three years down and Harrowed finally return from a self imposed exile. What have the clandestine three piece learned during their time in the wilderness? Has isolation nurtured the seed of compassion for the fate that awaits their fellow man as the western world seems intent on it’s own destruction? Have they have returned with the fire with which to illuminate humanities path back to compassion and reason? Have they fuck.

Harrowed’s second album ‘Chaotic Nonentity’ feels less like a collection of songs and more like a descent through the nine circles. Thirteen reflections upon the structural damage inherent in the human condition.

Opener Stark Terrors is a jarring ram raid of shattered glass riffs and rabid apostate gospel. Vocalist Seb Leslie’s godless bellow is unrelenting throughout. One Hundred Years lyrics read like extracts from a generations suicide note. The poetry of a man truly at the end of his rope. It is the last baring of splintered teeth. The final act of defiance against a world spiraling out of control. Tearing at the hand that nails the coffin lid shut. Despite the crushing nihilism that creeps from every pore of this record, it’s not without texture. There are tiny flickers of light; occasional flourishes of spartan melody claw their way to the surface beneath the sheets of howling guitars and funeral drums. Shards of hope lurking in the depths of Disconnexion’s mournful lament. These moments of acute contrast is best described by Harrowed themselves in Inauthenticide as a “bloom in the dirt of the human race”.

Harrowed have not allowed the scars of Into Inferno to heal. Have not allowed the passage of time to dilute their collective scorn one drop. In tearing out the sutures of those old wounds to expose the nerve damage and create a death knell so raw and belligerent fit to chronicle these apocalyptic times.



Release date 18/10/19.

Limited to 300 LP's on black vinyl.



Co-released with Feast Of Tentacles.

The Quietus
UK hardcore trio Harrowed are back this month too, with the long-awaited follow up to their raging 2013 debut Into Inferno. Any fears that the bands caustic blend of aggro punk battery, grinding intensity and sludgy riffery would have mellowed in the intervening six years are immediately put to rest as soon as opener ‘Stark Terrors’ kicks down the doors with absolutely ferocious blastbeats and the kind of impossibly infectious breakdown that’ll make you want to flip your desk over and spin kick yourself into oblivion. ‘Postmodern Prison’ continues in a similarly speedy vein, before songs like ‘Disconnexion’ and the desolate, paranoid sounding ‘Derelict’ dish out some sludgier, more ominous grooves, and ‘Inauthenticide’ injects a bit of brash, Cursed-esque swagger into the proceedings. ‘Disused Limbs’ even augments it’s hulking great riffs with a bit of a noise rock feel à la KEN Mode at their most pissed off, whilst the closing title track pairs frantic Slayer-isms against the kind of imposingly heavy riff that feels weighty enough to snap an elephant’s knees. This is suitably fucking savage and essential listening for fans of bleak, metal indebted hardcore. Welcome back lads!

Apathy And Exhaustion
These days it seems that every band is overactive on social media to the point of eye gouging irritation. A constant stream of announcements for every new t-shirt design or gig delivered with the sort of unblinking enthusiasm normally reserved for a bunch of rabid five year olds at a birthday party all hopped up on a cocktail of Fruit Shoots and Youtube losing their shit down Wacky Warehouse.
How refreshing it is then, when a band like Harrowed, can successfully cultivate an air of clandestine mystery and excitement by simply keeping their fucking mouths shut until they have something to say.
New album Chaotic Non Entity arrives courtesy of Feast Of Tentacles & Super Fi, devoid of self-aggrandising fanfair, appearing in this reviewers peripheral awareness like a disturbingly familiar shadow.
Opener Stark Terror is a jarring ram raid of shattered glass riffs and rabid apostate gospel. Vocalist Seb Leslie’s godless bellow is unrelenting throughout. One Hundred Years‘ lyrics read like extracts from a generation’s suicide note. The barbed poetry of a man truly at the end his rope. It is the last baring of splintered teeth. The final act of defiance against a world spiralling out of control. Tearing at the hand that nails the coffin lid shut.
Despite the crushing nihilism that seeps from every pore of this record, it’s not without texture. There’s tiny flickers of light; occasional flourishes of spartan melody claw their way to the surface from beneath the sheets of howling guitars and funereal drums. Shards of hope lurking in the depths of Disconexxions mournful lament. These moments of acute contrast are best described by Harrowed themselves in Authenticideas “a bloom in the dirt of the human race”.
Make no mistake, Chaotic Non Entity is an absolutely gruelling listen. It is a record that taps into the howling discontent of a population that has become brutally aware of it’s own fragility. A planet that has realised too late that there’s no firm hand on the wheel, the accelerator is pushed to the floor and the lights are going out. Essential.

Astral Noize
Crush: a verb, meaning to deform. The word has many different connotations, but when used in the context of Kent three-piece Harrowed, the word crush takes on a whole new meaning. The trio’s latest offering Chaotic Nonentity is jam packed with riffs that will crush your skull and the sheer heaviness of the whole album will leave your body feeling like rubble on the floor. Hard and abrasive are descriptors which don’t do this record justice, as it goes from zero to one hundred in the blink of an eye, wearing hatred and aggression on its sleeves.
Harrowed don’t hang around either, with opening track ‘Stark Terrors’ really setting the tone for what is to come, as metallic infused guitar riffs and howling screams take centre stage. But it is with ‘Postmodern Prison’ where the real statement of intent comes in, the rhythmic guitar intro topped off with the screaming vocals of Sebastian Leslie, it really does muster up a sense of dread and impending doom.
From this review it may seem that Harrowed are just another dark hardcore band that rely on brooding riffs, but the fact of the matter is, they are so much more than that. Each song on the record is meticulously crafted, from the little hits of the china cymbal to the more measured approach of ‘Derelict’, every single motion of the band is planned out and to great effect.
What is also impressive is the sheer unrelenting punishment this record delivers. When you hit track nine, ‘Coward’, you could be inclined to believe you are at the business end of the record and things might start to tail off; not a chance. Instead Harrowed launch into a blast beat frenzy which is designed rip your head off. By the time the title track and album closer ‘Chaotic Nonentity’ rolls round, Harrowed have reinvented the meaning of the word crushing, as this record will leave your bones in pieces.
With it being a three-year absence since the band unleashed any new material on the world, this album does have the strong feeling of a caged beast finally being released and you better move out of the way. Despite the crushing nihilism that creeps from every pore of this record, it’s not without texture and it is this which makes you beg for more punishment and pining after more.

Metal Trenches
The Pitch: "Crushing nihilism" from UK hardcore band Harrowed, with the occassional "bloom in the dirt of the human race." FFO: Converge, Trap Them, Botch
What I Like: "Stark Terrors." Jesus, what an opener. It's like Norma Jean collided with Hexis. Acerbic vocals meet swarming bee guitar riffs and a clanky bass breakdown sure to cause a few bone fractures. Without so much as skipping a beat, "Postmodern Prison" follows suit with a bluesy earworm guitar riff sandwiched around a hellfire of crusty, grindy madness. Fast and fierce. And so it goes from henceforth. Sure, there is a the occasionaly sludgy reprieve of tracks like "Disconnexion" or "Derelict," but also expect to feel your brain rattle inside your skull for the next 30 mintues. And "Converge-isms" abound in both the Koller-esque drumming and wailing Ballou guitars.
Critiques: The first half is stronger than the second. This project is at its best when the brakelines are cut.
The Verdict: While a bit uneven, Chaotic Nonentity is another solid entry for hardcore in 2019. Harrowed deliver all of the raw thrills we've come to expect, and in a way that remains true to the roots of the genre.
Flight's Fav's: Stark Terrors, Postmodern Prison, One Hundred Years

The Sleeping Shaman
When you’re part of a new wave of bands which share influences, you’re either content to follow what everyone else is doing, or you’re going to follow your own path. The initial wave of hardcore bands that followed in the wake of those that combined Entombed and Discharge have mostly stuck with that increasingly tiresome HM-2 guitar tone as they continue to try and replicate the first few releases from IT support tough guys, Nails.
UK band Harrowed have previously been lumped in with that wave, but their first full-length, Into Inferno, showed that they were going their own way. It had the hardcore fury, the d-beats, and that familiar guitar sound, but it also had well-crafted songs and unique guitar playing as part of a fully realised vision. They showed that they had more in common with post hardcore bands as they branched out into new territory while sticking to the brutal framework of hardcore punk.
There seems to be a fair few hardcore bands who are branching out in this way right now. Drawing from sludge, death metal and post punk; incorporating dopesick riffs, blast beats, ambient interludes, and various other ‘post’ elements, but it can often feel like a lot of things thrown at the wall in the hope that most will stick. I find that while a lot of these things work, one or two don’t and that’s enough to compromise the overall impact and momentum of what would otherwise be an immersive listen.
That’s not what I get from Harrowed’s new album, Chaotic Nonentity. From the raging, razor-sharp and ultra-tight opening track – a compact sequence of blasting discord and rhythmic attack – expectations are set for a relentless and shifting assault. The majority of tracks are jarring in this way, but they’re also fluid and well-written, full of beastly riffs and battery, taking in straightforward hardcore punk and bone-crushing metal, as well as weird and experimental sounds. A furious energy is at the heart of everything here. Songs take moments to build, pause, or open up before it all breaks loose again, but there are many hints that Harrowed could go off into any number of directions if they wanted to, especially with the more emotive and progressive sections.
While at times it can feel like something of a frenetic show reel from a band brimming with ideas, things are constantly moving forward with a sense of purpose. It is chaotic and may be too schizophrenic for some, but it also sounds meticulous and controlled. The twists and shifts feel very deliberate, like they’re not going to let anything hang around too long so that you’re left struggling to keep up. That is until they slow it all down and things open up to give way to dark and reflective atmospheres.
From the raging, razor-sharp and ultra-tight opening track – a compact sequence of blasting discord and rhythmic attack – expectations are set for a relentless and shifting assault.
By the time you reach the sixth track, Derelict, you see that Harrowed aren’t just chucking stuff at the wall, they’re softening you up by attacking from all angles before they subject you to something deeper as malignant crawling chords give way to ominous melancholy. The album is broken up in this way throughout, as if these tracks mark a debrief and contemplation of the previous bombardments. Things eventually open up even more to incorporate ambient atmospheric sounds with haunting spoken word samples and impressive mini soundscapes, and the title track in particular with its disturbing glimpse of insanity shows that Harrowed have the potential to really mine the unexpected.
The mix of atonal noise and odd, angular riffs punctuating the rhythmic and melodic punk energy, the raw but slick sound, and the chaotic but deft playing, all sounds a lot like Converge to me, and that’s no bad thing. The vocals don’t really deviate from furious, anguished bellowing, but they’re not so imposing or pushed as to be monochrome or irritating, and a lot of emotion and expression comes through. The powerhouse drumming veers from one style to the next, constantly driving every turn in the songwriting and providing rhythmic heft for the arsenal of riffs.
It’s clear that Harrowed are all great players, but as with their previous release, the most interesting aspect of the music lies with the guitars. Odd little flourishes, unusual off-kilter riffs, weird discord, and all sorts of embellishments that cut through the noise. There’s so much going on in among the chaos, and this subtle and intricate guitar work is blended so well with the battery, that you’ll miss a lot of it during the first few listens.
A few of the songs have something of an unfinished vibe, like the band have said all they had to say and they’re not going to hang around to repeat themselves, but I like that. To get the most out of Chaotic Nonentity, you either have to have a taste for a constantly shifting sound or be ready to acquire it. It doesn’t ease you in and it doesn’t let up. It’s constant and intense and it’s all played flawlessly. All of that works as it is, but it also shows that Harrowed could take any one of their momentary ideas and develop it into something more involved and distinctive. It doesn’t all work for me, though. The guitar leads, while very well executed, don’t really fit, but they don’t exactly hang around either so this is a minor complaint left over from an otherwise all-consuming rush. If you’re looking for a stripped down fifteen-minute blast then there’s too much going on here, but if you like the sound of well-crafted and considered chaos with vision and ambition, you should check this out. Harrowed seem very likely to be one of those bands who will take their sound even further, creating their own wake in which others will follow.