You would expect something of an international flavour to this EP from relatively new project Funeral Harvest. After all, with members from Trondheim, Norway and Syracuse, Italy, surely there is enough varied influence to make for a unique and interesting mix of styles? Sadly, not so. Funeral Harvest is very bleak, very brittle, and very typical of black metal, all snarls and battering drums and guitars that form tinny walls of sound. That's not to say that it is entirely uninteresting or monotonous; of course not. Opener Nihil Sub Sole Novum opens with Latin chants and tolling bells, a dread atmosphere immediately grasping your throat even before the depressive riffs take hold. And the track remains on edge, speeding and slowing, rabid vocal shrieks and shouts never allowing the listener to feel at ease.

Some black metal is about the journey, putting your mind's eye into the woods and steppes of lands as yet unknown, and other bands prefer to nudge and prod to prevent relaxation. Funeral Harvest are most definitely closer to the latter than the former! Although on initial listens the only element that stands out is the audible bass, when you've grown accustomed to the band's style the subtleties take hold, such as the sheer despair in the vocal performance on Sacred Dagger. And the tracks are distinct, the ominous rumbling that opens O.S.N.D.S.P.T soon turning to pure Norwegian black metal, shifts in tempo the only attempt at personality. The forays into bleakness of finale Omega are perhaps the most bluntly purist on the EP, but nothing here really stands out or will turn the head of an experienced necronaut. Which is fine, not all black metal EPs can stun or revolutionise, and there are certainly faint glimpses of something that may one day be impressive present. Yet Funeral Harvest have a way to go before this is to be recommended, however.