Harvest the Beast was an end-of-summer release, and it’s high time it got a shout from The Deli as it’s the first album and last testament of the former Bad Cop lineup. With vocalist Adam Moult the only remaining original, there are mixed feelings out there concerning the member swap. But let’s move past it. Throughout the course of 10 tracks, the band displays lyrical brazenness and complete confidence in the formulaic approach, and that makes all the difference. Beneath the loud, comic-book cover art is an album churned and mashed with rock and pop influences and steeped in psychedelia. It starts off deceptively with some pretty chords à la Death Cab for Cutie as Moult declares, “You can’t love someone who doesn’t love themselves” in “Amorres Perros” but then delves into the harder, fleshier tracks.
Crunchy guitars break down into prolonged, whining chords over rumbling drum beats, transitioning from hyper grit-rock to meandering psych-rock in a matter of minutes, as found on “Tonight Only.” Moult’s alternation of frightening yells and stern, commanding proclamations mimic Jim Morrison’s vocal style, but the real intrigue is in the guitar parts, which putter, squeal and grate relentlessly even when Moult’s vocal assault gets tiresome. Definitive guitar melodies pull Bad Cop out of any slump – not that they’re in one – as “One in the Same” illustrates, or “Judas the Snake,” in which drilling riffs devour thundering bass and a clashing high-hat. “I Ask Questions” opens with the repetition of “We don’t know where we go when we die,” an assertion that makes no attempt at obscurity. But then, nothing about the album is trying to keep quiet. Bad Cop has ambition, and they’re so sure of Harvest the Beast, the listener is, too. – Jessica Pace