The Harvest of Tellus - Cincinatti Bowtie (Review)

Cincinnati Bowtie - as mysterious the name sounds, this might be the most lethal metal project you might not have heard! Hailing from Bradford UK, mastermind James Birch is the brainchild of this slamming brutal death metal/deathcore project and has single handedly dropped consistent records since 2017. Technically the sixth full length record, Cincinatti Bowtie is back with their latest album “The Harvest of Tellus”, which seems to have so shortage of brutality. Thus, without any further ado, let's jump to the album discussion. 

The album opener “The Encroachment” starts off with a clean intro, before bleeding into the symphonic buildup with layerings of guitars and heavy drums. With low ranged vocals, the track oscillated between its heavier parts and its clean passages. The title track “The Harvest of Tellus” showcases powerful opening, with sludgy riffs having a grandeur feel to itself. With a hardcore drumming style, the drums bring in huge energy, providing instances of head-banging and face melting! “Entangled in Consternation” has a metalcore-ish vibe to it, with dark melodies over it, while “Permeate the Seedbed” while “Permeate the Seedbed” has a melodic death metal vibe with a lot of symphonic and atmospheric sonic elements.

“Decimation of the Earthborn” is where the slamming brutality takes over, with riffs like Abominable Putridity and Acranius and rapid blast beats and double bass throughout, this one will be an instant favorite of the “SLAM BOIS!” Expect some old-school caveman style deathcore-ish breakdown at the end too. Tracks like “The Meeting of Disregard” showcase some interesting dynamic shifts with the chunky passages, creating headbanging moments. The fun part lies in the outro - the caveman styled single note riff with choppy rhythm will leave your skull decimated wide open.  

The second half of the album begins with “Eradication of the Anthropoids”, whose slamming riffs with its sheer brutality will definitely leave the Anthropoids eradicated. Much like “Entangled in Consternation”, “General Guard of Misery” and “Anthropomorphic Trend of Human Thought” have the shadow of blackened-death metal over its groovy slamming passages. The atmospheric layerings, though subtle in the background, does aid to the eerie-darkish vibe.  

"Alarums and Excursions" shows the immense power and dynamics of the track, enough to prove why this record is a dominating factor. The closing track “The Dansant '' showcases some intense tremolo action with guitar riffs, while having a melodic approach with its melodies. While this might sound like an Oxymoron, the symphonic elements adds a great emotional depth to the overall slamming brutality.

“The Harvest of Tellus” is a dense record. Each of the twelve track has a range of diversity and borrows elements from various realms of metal. Being Slamming brutal deathcore to its core, there is an undeniable presence of the hardcore style, found on almost every track. James Birch, the mastermind behind the project, is undeniably the show stealer here and there’s no doubt the album adds for a solid discography to Cincinatti Bowtie.

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Website: https://www.facebook.com/cincinattibowtie

Genre: Slamming Deathcore, Slamming Brutal Death Metal

Worldwide Release: March 17th, 2022.