Harpoon- Deception Among Birds

Harpoon is back and they are just as noisy as ever! The band formed back in 2007 and since they have put out a demo, a full-length, and popped up on a couple splits. Their sound is pretty "all over the place" to say the least. At one moment you may find yourself in a massive whirlwind of feedback filled, grind/powerviolence and the next you are hearing some very enthralling doom. Deception Among Birds clocks in at just under forty minutes and within that time Harpoon is going to do anything possible to win you over.

The guitarwork featured here varies quite a bit. Many sections on the album are very fast paced and filled with adrenaline and fury. This sections are great and these dudes definitely have the ability to thrash your face off, but when they take the time to slow things down things get very interesting. A prime example of this is the epic "Troglodyte's Delight". The track breaks seven minutes and is without a doubt one of the best things Harpoon has ever recorded. The slow, hypnotic riffs ring throughout the head of the listener for what seems like an eternity, which is by no means of bad thing. "Troglodyte's Delight" could be the soundtrack of my life and I would live on with no complaints.

Things get a little experimental at times. One example of this is towards the end of the title track. A brief moment of feedback hits and then you are sent flying into a wall of odd noises. This goes on for a few minutes and throughout that time the layers of noises dissipate slowly to reveal a simple acoustic melody to close out the album. The vocals are filled with hate and are very in your face for the most part. Toney takes every opportunity given to assault your ears and he is successful 100% of the time. At times some clean vocals come into play, this happens most during moments that can almost be classified as drone. It adds a nice chunk of diversity and keeps things from growing stale in the vocal department.

Overall Harpoon have really tapped into their sound with Deception Among Birds. This is by far their most mature release to date. Deception Among Birds shows that Harpoon isn't afraid to experiment and also shows that they can do so without losing their vicious sound that we had heard on previous releases. Fans of grind, doom, drone, death, oxygen, and thrash should give this a listen. You won't be sorry, and the play count will shoot up like a rocket.