Interviews About Albums: Fell Harvest - Way Of The Scythe (2026)

In this new interview, we sat down with the American Melodic Doom Metal band Fell Harvest to ask questions about their album "Way Of The Scythe". 

1. Where did the name Fell Harvest come from, and how does it connect to the themes of your music?

The name Fell Harvest originated from a poem I wrote many years ago. I had a dream where I was wandering a vineyard made of bleached bones and rotting flesh. One line was “Time reaps a fell harvest,” and I ended up using that for the name of the band. The rest of the poem became the basis for the song Thy Barren Fields (from our first record).

2. Your new EP Way of the Scythe blends melodic doom, blackened death metal, and atmospheric elements. How did that sound evolve for this release?

We’ve always been a doom-focused band, albeit one that draws generously from other sub-genres. Liam and I both have strong influences from black metal and blackened death bands. For these songs, it was quite natural to let ourselves lean into those influences a little more. The two older songs from our prior incarnation already drew heavily from that blackened doom pool, and it made these tracks feel like they really belong together

3. The EP explores themes like transformation, mortality, and cycles of destruction and rebirth. What inspired the lyrical direction behind these songs?

There wasn’t really a conscious effort to make the lyrics fit in this way. It was more of an accident. Half the tracks we were working on had been written over 10 years ago, when I was a very different person and living a very different life. This had me thinking heavily on the passage of time, the cycles of destruction and rebirth, and the necessity of accepting that in order to exist. My life has changed so dramatically since, and yet some things are still with me, still guiding how I live and how I create. In hindsight, it would be odd if the lyrics didn’t reflect these things.

4. Some tracks were written recently, while others come from earlier creative periods. What was it like bringing those older ideas to life with the current lineup?

The songs Until the Starlight Dies and We Who Walk on Shadowed Paths were both written (by me) for my band Thorns of Acanthus. Thorns was a short-lived project that only released one EP in 2014. The original lineup broke up, and I played in a couple of other projects before “reforming” Thorns (Liam even played a few shows under that moniker before we changed it). I feel a great deal of pride and connection to these songs, but I never felt the EP production showcased them the way I wanted. We’d previously rerecorded the other songs from that EP, and we’ve been performing these two live for a while now. Both Mike and Liam have their own interpretations and brought new elements to them, so it felt like a good time to give them a rendition they deserve.

5. How did the chemistry between Joseph Fell, Liam Duncan, and Mike Smith shape the final sound of the EP?

We really pushed one another in a positive way. Mike delivered an incredible performance on the drums, and both Liam and I were driven to match it. We had also played all 5 songs live numerous times, so we had a clear picture of what each track should sound like. I think this consistency and cohesion are audible throughout the whole album

6. The title track “Way of the Scythe” is a powerful centerpiece. What does that song represent to the band?

Way of the Scythe is a track that I have had versions of for quite a long time. I’ve attempted to use it with various bands in the past, but it never really fit. At first, I wasn’t sure it was good for Fell Harvest either, but I showed the main riffs to the guys, and they both wanted to use it somehow. So it got a rewrite, I added the clean section in the middle as well as revising the slower breakdown that follows, and Liam added his very cool solo to the ending. In a way, the writing perfectly matched what the song ended up being about lyrically: the things we attach ourselves to hold us as much as we hold them, and moving forward often requires cutting them away.

7. You also included a haunting cover of “A Touch of Evil” by Judas Priest. What made that song the right choice to reinterpret for this release?

I love covers that feel like new songs. Metallica’s Breadfan and Samael’s I Love the Dead are both among my favorites. We’re all pretty big fans of Priest, and we wanted to do a song by them as a live closer. Touch of Evil is a great track from Painkiller, but one I feel often gets overlooked in their catalog. It felt like a chance to pay homage while also making something very different. Stripping out the synths and letting Mike’s drumming fill those spaces leaves the song with a stark, empty feeling that highlights the sense of alienation and terror in the lyrics. At the same time we play most of the song down a fourth using that obligatory doom metal low B. it’s darker and heavier, and Liam and I end up trading solos in the bridge which all combine to bring back some of the lushness of the original. It’s unique, but it’s also unmistakable, and we always have people singing along to it live.

8. The EP was produced and engineered by Alex Carillo and mastered by Jason Livermore at The Blasting Room. What was that process like?

We worked with Alex for the first time when we did the single version of Touch of Evil. He’s a really talented producer and has been doing some great work with other bands in the Northern Colorado scene. We knew the sound we wanted. We are really committed to having real drums and getting a drum sound that has a ton of character and presence. Alex is also the drummer in a great band called Draghoria, so he knows how to make drums sound good, and we’ve gotten so many comments on Mike’s drum tone in the new EP. So we had Mike down at Alex’s studio, and he recorded all the drums, then Liam and I recorded our parts at my place. I have a decent home studio and studied production and engineering in college, so I can at least get a usable collection of DIs. I really like doing things this way because playing along to a drum track as opposed to a raw click feels very different. Especially for bass, there’s a strong interaction between Mike and me, and we were able to replicate that very closely by recording this way. Once we had the performances done, we sent the files down to Alex, spent a day or so messing around with different amps, pedals, and cabs to get tones we thought really worked together, and then he re-amped our stems through that setup. Liam recorded his solos like he always does: in the studio with the real gear. Lead guitar is about playing the whole signal chain, not just the notes. Every bend, every pick attack feels a certain way because the whole is greater than the parts. Liam never wants to skip that, even if it makes things harder, and neither do I, so what you hear is what he actually played on the day it was recorded. I did the acoustic guitar and vocals at my home studio, which was definitely a mistake. Between tracking mine and Liam’s parts and working with Alex on various things, I hadn’t sung any of the songs in quite a while. The vocals just were not on the level I needed them to be. That is part of the reason we released this record much later than we wanted: I had to go back at one point, scrap every vocal track, and do them all again because they just didn’t feel right. That goes back to how we pushed each other throughout the process: Mike, Liam, and Alex all brought so much energy and talent to everything. I couldn’t let the vocals be the weak point.

Once we were all happy with the results, the mixes were on point, the tones were there, everything felt how we wanted, it was time to send things to Jason for the final polish. He manages to make great mixes sound incredible while never taking away their identity.

9. The cover art features Thanatos II (1899) by Jacek Malczewski. What drew you to that piece, and how does it reflect the themes of the EP?

It was really by accident; I had been talking to a couple of artists online about doing a commission for the cover. We were never able to come to an agreement I felt totally comfortable with, so at the last minute, I was left to find a cover image that was either quickly licensable or public domain, but also hadn’t been used in this context before. I wanted something that had a tragic, romantic quality that also reflected the title, and spent a while looking through various museum websites and social media groups until I stumbled upon Malczewski. He painted quite a few variations on the idea of Death as a Goddess, sharpening her scythe, and once I saw this particular one, I knew it was the cover we needed.

10. Fans often hear influences in your sound such as My Dying Bride, Dissection, and Opeth. Which artists or albums had the biggest impact on Fell Harvest while creating this release?

From a songwriting standpoint, I think we were much closer to Dissection than My Dying Bride this time around. That was pretty conscious, we wanted to give these tracks a chance to build their own identity away from any ideas of “Is this really Doom?”. I was also listening to 1914, Unto Others, Unreqvited and Nevermore quite a lot during the time we wrote and recorded these tracks. The next round of material will pull some of those Doom influences back to the forefront. Production-wise, I know I sent Alex a few songs that had elements I wanted to draw from. They included Iron Man, Cowboys From Hell, and Bloody Kisses.

11. What has the reaction been like so far from fans listening to Way of the Scythe?

It’s been really positive; none of these songs surprised anyone who’s seen us live in the past 2 years. We’ve gotten a lot of praise for Mike’s drumming, the guitar tones, Liam’s solos, and the vocals. One or two people have noticed the bass, which I suppose is a win these days.

12. How important is atmosphere and storytelling when writing doom and melodic death metal?

I think it's critical for any kind of music. Art is about communication and connection. Your audience mostly doesn’t care about your carefully executed 3-part polyrhythm or the voice leading between different sections as you modulate (one person commented on this at a show, but only one). People remember how songs make them feel and the connection they form with them. Stories, and the feelings they create, are what make art real.

13. What song from the EP are you most excited to perform live?

I will choose two, Starlight and Walk, because we always perform them back-to-back. They’re in the same key and have a very similar feel, so it's easy to bridge them together. That’s about 13 minutes with some extended fast sections, though, which isn’t easy. Still, I don’t think we’ll be dropping that one for a while.

14. Where are some places you’d love to perform in the future?

I’d love to get out of the US. I’m not sure Europe is feasible in the current economic climate, but maybe Canada. I’d also love to return to the East Coast, especially upstate New York and New England, where I grew up. We’ll play anywhere, though; you never know where people will be open to hearing you.

15. What’s the weirdest or most memorable fan moment you’ve experienced so far as a band?

That would have to be the time we opened for Goatwhore. Liam is a High School teacher, and several of his students came to that show. They walked up to us before our set and were saying: “Mr Duncan? What are you doing here?” and he got to explain that he played guitar in one of the opening bands.

16. What do you think makes Fell Harvest stand out in today’s metal scene?

I think being a trio really sets us apart, especially live. I rarely see bands without two guitarists these days, and those few tend to rely heavily on backing tracks. We are a trio, and we want to sound like a trio.

17. What’s next for Fell Harvest after the release of Way of the Scythe?

We are actively rehearsing new songs that will become our next album. We also have a couple more covers in the works for major influences who’ve left us. We’re setting up live shows through the summer and are making some big improvements in our production and presentation. Lastly, we have recently returned to Bandcamp, and we will have new merch and physical recording options there soon

18. Is there anything else you’d like to share with the readers of Breathing The Core Zine?

We really appreciate everyone who takes the time to listen to our music. In a world where literally millions of songs are generated every day by AI it matters a great deal that a person decided to listen to us out of all that noise.

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