An artist must try to re-capture the spirit of being free from whatever complicated life you went through. Whether it was a dysfunctional family, being picked on, it is time let the past and the present be, and move forward into the dark, cold light that’s waiting for us.
Matt Harvey is a name you probably may or may not know of. He’s a guitarist and vocalist, known for his work with metal bands ranging from genres such as gore metal and death metal. From the realms of Exhumed, Gruesome, Pounder, Dekapitator, and Scarecrow, Harvey has his work cut out for him. But he’s more than just a metal guitarist.
Around that time in 2021, he wanted to prove to himself that he’s more than just a Metal god by stepping into the world of soundscapes. He began to experiment with keyboards, synthesisers, etc. starting out with a sci-fi themed album entitle Last Son of Krypton.
Harvey’s latest release Toward the Cold Light was recorded early of last year, inspired by the cold, misty, damp mornings outside. It seemed like a big challenge to tackle, but for Matt, he’s taking another step toward the ambient / new age sound.
In an interview he did with Emily Bellino from Decibel Magazine on March 7th of this year, he described on why he wanted to branch out in recent years. “I’ve always been interested in a lot of different kinds of music (basically everything that’s not ska, nu metal or opera), so that itch has always been bubbling beneath the surface. I feel like I’m finally pretty free to make metal music at my own pace and with a degree of competency that I’m comfortable with”.
He finds himself going on this journey to discover, who he really is, and taking it a step further, going beyond the metal genre. It’s the same with Colorado’s own Blood Inclination where they branched out from being a death metal band, to an ambient / atmospheric sound which was evidential in the 2022 release Timewave Zero.
The evidence of a dramatic string section comes to life from the opening title-track, walking through the long, cold morning that drops below 32 degrees. You feel the cold as its hits hard with pin-dropping guitar textures, howling winds, and the angelic vocals coming towards you.
When I think of the opening title-track, it almost had this video-game score, set in the world of religious realms of Cvstodia from the Blasphemous franchise. Harvey knows how to create the worlds beyond our wildest dreams as he takes another step into a religious mourning that we witness for the ‘Silence at the Edge of Memory’.
The track sets up this wave form of saying good bye to your loved on as you over the edge of the cliff, looking towards the heavenly blue-skies, seeing the sun in all of its morning glory, finally letting go and moving forward with your life. ‘Lights in the Mist’ provides a cello-like tender before hitting in those powder keg percussion work with some emotional styles of Vangelis, Carlos Viola, Garry Schymann, and Klaus Schulze.
I just vision Harvey being signed to the Spotted Peccary label when it comes to his music. He has that vision and knows where he wants to go next before bringing in more rain drop effects from his electronic worlds with ‘Parted Hearts’. It has a classical Beatle-sque section which speaks of the expansion of the lifting arrangements to ‘Because’ from the Abbey Road album.
Closing track, ‘Vanishing Point’, marks a turn to run towards your house as another snow storm approaches the impending doom with its drum machine patterns heading towards dark, grey clouds approaching the Canadian landscape. The time is ticking when piano and strings, set up an ascending rise to make sure you turn off the water, and hope the electricity doesn’t go off in the middle of this heavy snow storm approaching.
It’s quite an intriguing release Harvey has brought to the table when it comes to detailing themes about the cold and dark places we head into whenever the autumn and winter season begins. An EP that is the soundtrack of the winter of our discontent when it hits us unexpectedly.
