Australia really is a bastion of modern metal that I don’t think gets nearly enough credit. We could sit here for hours and talk about the burgeoning state of the underground that they have across virtually all styles that metal has to offer with death metal, in particular, being something that the country excels at. Maybe it has something to do with all the extreme heat and stereotypically massive deadly wildlife. In any case, Australian death metal has always gone hard with there being no sign of any of its acts slowing down whatsoever for any reason. It was barely two years ago that The Harvest Trail came into the scene with their first album to throw their hat into the ring, and it’s now they’ve returned in such a fashion that can’t be deemed any less than impressive.

“Instinct” was a creation that was far from a failure in any capacity even if it was the band’s first album as a cohesive unit, but in no way did they leave the listener disappointed with their brand of death metal that invoked the old school without leaving anything on the table. Time was all they needed to really grow into the act that the debut promised, and it already seems to be paying off in spades as the fresh EP of “Spree” is both the pieces that fans of the first record were surely hoping for and the next natural step when it comes to the very evolution of the sound of The Harvest Trail. Still very much keeping the same energy that we saw in 2021, the six tracks of “Spree” feel more mature and focused in its intensity while never once compromising a true death metal experience for the listener as there are more than plenty of chainsaw-like riffs abound whilst the very horrors brought about solely by mankind are injected into the mind with terrifying detail as nothing is left untainted before The Harvest Trail and its undeniable might. “Spree” knows exactly what it was meant to be from the exact moment of its inception with The Harvest Trail more than competently bringing to life: a straightforward creation of death metal that holds nothing back whose only goal is to go forth until the whole world is covered in blood and viscera.

In no way do you need to reinvent the wheel on any follow-up creation in order to show your growth as a band with all that has been brought to the table here more than a fitting example of what it means to deliver such a sight in magnificent detail without exception as The Harvest Trail continues its slow rise through the underground as an act that’s not to be dismissed. There may not be as much material within “Spree” as what many of us might have hoped for, but it is in no way that The Harvest Trail leaves us feeling unsatisfied with all that the EP is.

“Spree” releases on April 14th!

PRE-ORDER “Spree” on Bandcamp here.

LIKE The Harvest Trail on Facebook here.