Style: thrash metal (harsh vocals)
Recommended for fans of: Power Trip, Revocation, Pantera, Heathen, Prong
Country: France
Release date: 6 February 2025
If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be? Pretend, through some sort of magic, dietary considerations were removed and the choice fell solely on preference. The answer is such an easy one: it’s coffee ice cream. I love that stuff. Eating nothing but coffee ice cream without a care in the world, remorselessly inhaling it while friends and family watch in envy (or probably absolute disgust) is the dream, right? French thrash metal band HARP seeks to answer this question in its latest LP, The Distance Within.
Okay, as far as I can tell, The Distance Within has nothing to do with the frosty confection. But it does involve another massive indulgence of mine: thrashy mid-paced riffs. Don’t even bother leaving your lowest string, I don’t care—the caveman part of my brain ignites regardless. Just give me a basic rolling thrash riff with some decent production behind it and I’ll grab my white high tops, bullet belt, and a case of PBR and mosh along all day. Or so I thought until HARP dropped an album that, essentially, is a 53-minute-long mid-paced thrash riff. It turns out my tolerance is about 15 minutes. The remaining 38 minutes are akin to a merciless force-feeding, boding terribly for my ice cream fantasy were it ever to become a reality.
Ridiculous metaphor aside, The Distance Within is built entirely upon riffs, with each one played at nearly the same tempo and landing somewhere in a very narrow range between thrash and groove. The occasional guitar lead or bit of texture will appear over the riffing, and the bass or drums might toss in a rare fill beneath, but that’s about it. To HARP’s credit, the production is heavy—think Revocation rather than a thinner ‘80s sound. The guitar tone is about as good as it gets for this style, a resonant bass pulses with enough force to really drive the bottom end, and the drums are crisp and hit hard; meanwhile, gruff vocals serve as a siren’s call to finish your beer and get back in the pit. Everything adds up to an aural assault that’s quite addicting. This is why I spent a few full tracks mentally careening around the circle pit before finally stopping to ask, ‘Wait, am I still listening to the album’s first riff?’
Following a minute of ambiance, the band launches into “Exile,” the album’s most complete track. “Exile” is a mid-paced thrash cut, sure, but it includes some double bass and shifts in rhythm, a punchy breakdown with droning synth behind it, clever bass, and a guitar solo—more than can be said about the other tracks. The song stands on its own as an excellent single and is enough to get you hyped for what’s to come. Onward, however, the album quickly descends into coffee-ice-cream-flavored monotony, bottoming out at “Memory Architect,” an 11-minute track that ends basically where it starts and goes nowhere in between. Distinguishing the songs from one another is difficult, much less the parts within each song, and the individual performances—particularly the drums, played by the band’s guitarist—aren’t quite inspired enough to hold the listener’s ear. HARP does end this 53-minute test of endurance with some bite in the lively “To See Dreams Die,” but by this point I’m no longer in the pit and instead standing at the back of the venue, staring on with an empty gaze.
The most frustrating thing about The Distance Within is that HARP demonstrates so much potential. The mix is fantastic, and many of the riffs are well-written and eminently enjoyable in moderation—the outros in “Memory Architect” and “Heart in Hands,” for example, are slick but repeated into oblivion. The band even teases more dynamic songwriting chops in its single sonic excursion “(A Distance Within),” offering a soulful interlude of clean guitars and a tasteful bass performance. Alas, any shining moments are buried by the album’s repetition and general lack of diversity. HARP has laid a strong foundation and left it bare.
Although The Distance Within might have missed the mark for me, I sincerely hope HARP returns soon with a more dynamic release, preferably aided by a full-time drummer. The band cooks up a sound that truly hits the spot but then piles it on well beyond what even the most gluttonous of us can handle. As the saying goes, variety is the spice of life, food and riffs alike; or maybe ‘everything in moderation’ is the better cliché. Whatever the case may be, I’ve had my fill until the next LP is served.
Recommended tracks: Exile, To See Dreams Die
You may also like: Cryptosis, Death Mex, Sleep
Final verdict: 4/10
Related links: Bandcamp | Spotify | Facebook | Instagram | Metal-Archives page
Label: Independent
HARP is:
– Guillaume Timotei (guitars and drums)
– Romain Delatour (vocals and bass)
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