This Finnish band have been around since 2004 and released a self titled album around that time as well as to date quite a lot of EP’s and splits with the likes of Funerary Bell, Verge, and Cosmic Church. I must admit this is my first encounter with the group but the stark black and white medieval art of death on the cover quickly caught my attention and then the music on the disc was straight behind it. Apparently BRF started off as a one man band but have now expanded their ranks; music on this release which looks to have taken a few years to put together is attributed just to B.R.F. and Shu – Ananda though.

The album is a perfect 3/4 of an hour in length but surprisingly just has four tracks on it, all are long and involving. We start off with title track ‘Harvest’ and it has a mid paced heavy furrow cleaving away through it. This is fist pounding, head banging and feudal sounding stuff and sounds like classic black metal from a decade and a half gone by without any pretentions about it. Melody is very strong and the guitar rhythms are repeated and loop around things drawing you in and powerfully getting their claws in. The biog mentions the likes of Burzum, Horna and Satanic Warmaster amongst others and yep I can certainly hear the influence from them but also for me there is a lot of Kampfar about the sound here which is enforced by the solid pounding militancy of the music. The vocals are gravid and although slightly in the background they have a weird reverb kind of effect on them that has them echoing and howling like a banshee through the fog (and that description came without me even thinking of the band name). The lyrics are according to the booklet in English but there is no way I could decipher them. Reading them though this is a rotten and rank harvest and one that has been ruined by the spectre of death.

The pace quickens as we move into ‘Return’ we are in fact at full romp here. Again the melody is instantly accessible and memorable and it is the simplicity of it all that makes it so successful for me. We slow down and those howls are back in. I have a vision of an old castle and someone stomping around it having returned but they are not in a happy place and all they feel around them are the ghosts of happier times. There is an atmosphere of misery and futility drenching this place. The battle charge is now at even bleaker fervour as we in ‘The Prison’ which as expected is completely depressive in execution (no pun intended). The music is slow and ponderous as though there is no hurry. One thing that does cut through the meandering funereal melody is a sudden and unexpected clean vocal part catching off guard but fitting in perfectly and they are here to stay. Can things go any lower with anguish at a pinnacle, yes as finally it is time to gaze into ‘The Abyss.’ Desolation and solitude are present in the clean vocals and there is a real austere vibe cast by them, theatrical and full of sorrow. The album since its beginnings has reversed in upon itself so if you were expecting it to all be at one pace you are going to be in for a bit of a surprise, especially as by the mood of things it suggests there is little in the way of redemption forthcoming.

Basically Blood Red Fog have from jubilation taken a shroud and cast it over things. There is a flavour of Bathory about this last chant too and everything about this has impressed me. If you are looking for black metal that has a real traditional feel about it this should certainly be worth a listen.

(7.5/10 Pete Woods)

http://www.myspace.com/brfofficial