The Summary Judgment Reviews:
Title: Sick Transit Gloria Mundi
Artist: Red Harvest
Label: Relapse Records
Release Date: 2002

Rating: 2 Skulls
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    • Reviewed by Equinox (6/27/02):
    Norwegian industrial metal imports Red Harvest present us with Sick Transit Gloria Mundi, the follow-up to their Cold Dark Matter LP of 2000. Not too much has really changed as far as the Red Harvest sound is concerned, the band still possesses the same buzzy guitars and bass, and the drum programming is done in a similar fashion, complete with fake blast beats and mechanized double bass bursts. The vocal formula is still pretty much the same as well, with a well-balanced mix of screamed, growled and sung vocals, all hidden under tons of distortion and pretty unintelligible.

    The songs on Sick Transit Gloria Mundi constitute a mixture of techno, death metal, cyber doom and traditional industrial metal. The opener "AEP" can be counted among the album's more upbeat tracks, with a fast, mechanical sound reminiscent of a darker, more scary Fear Factory. "CyberNaut" travels a bit more down the traditional metal path, sounding like a mix of older death metal bands like Bolt Thrower and Death, but without that same technicality or complexity. Some of the tracks here are two-headed, stopping in the middle of the song and turning a complete 180; "Beyond The End" starts off in a Fear Factory like manner, then stops on a dime and abruptly switches, finishing off with a slow, loopy riff and drum pattern a la Neurosis.

    All in all, this album is similar to Cold Dark Matter, with the main difference being perhaps a faster overall tempo than their previous effort. There is a lot less slow, drawn-out stuff here, as the emphasis of this album seems to be leaning toward the faster, more aggressive material. There are a few remixes of older tracks here as well ("Final Scorn" and "Re Hammer Mix"), inserted at the end of the album as bonus tracks, though other than that there is really not too much focus on the techno (dance?) aspect in the meat of the album. If you were a fan of Cold Dark Matter or any of the band's older material, chances are you'll be into this one too.
    2 out of 5

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