Well good morning, and happy Friday (I guess)!

After about a day and a half of reprieve during which I turned off all our auxiliary heaters in the kitchen, bathroom, and basement — because the outdoor temperatures actually had hovered just slightly above freezing for a brief while — we’ve dipped back into frigid cold and it’s projected to continue to get worse over the next day or two.

Plus the entire eastern part of the USA is bracing for the worst snowfall we’ve had in quite some time. Around here (western Pennsylvania), folks are already making comparisons to the Snowmageddon of 2010 or even the Blizzard of ’93 … and we haven’t even seen a single flake yet.

So obviously it seems like a perfect day to be listening to music that comes from a region known for its extreme cold and winter weather! Presenting the first new 2026 release we’ll be checking out: Time to Harvest by Sac—

Err, whoops. I’m being informed (pretend for a second I’m wearing an earpiece) (and that you can see me rather than just reading these words I’ve written) that I’ve apparently misread the band’s name, which is Sacri Suoni (which means “Sacred Sounds” in Italian), not Suomi, and as it turns out the band is therefore not actually Finnish as I had initially thought, but they’re from Milan, Italy. Where it’s currently — (checks notes) — in the mid-40s. (Degrees Fahrenheit, that is.) And probably significantly higher than that during harvest time.

Well since we’re all here already, let’s listen to this album anyway. Brand-new off the presses today! (Also, don’t you hate when people say “checks notes”? Isn’t that so annoying? It’s just the worst, right?)

Sacri Suoni – Time to Harvest (Electric Valley Records, 23 January 2026)

This newly-released record, the Milanese quartet’s second since their 2022 formation, consists of four tracks averaging right around nine-and-a-half minutes in length, and completely packed with — according to the band — “NO WORDS, ONLY TONS OF WATT.”

Although that isn’t entirely accurate: there are a few gentle guitar intros and/or interludes that wouldn’t be considered quite so watt-intensive, and numerous moments of otherworldly atmospherics. Those are interspersed with riffs of MASSIVE distorted chords that punch you squarely in the gut each time they enter. This juxtaposition and contrast brings to mind the cosmic explorations of Ohio-based The Ravenna Arsenal, just with fewer words. (Not significantly fewer, though, since those guys were known to kick out some pretty lengthy instrumental jams as well!)

The crushing doom vibe that pervades the album hits its highest point, in this reviewer’s opinion, during “Dissolve to Reunite in Varanasi” (incidentally the shortest track here, at “only” five-and-a-half minutes), where the distorted power chords of the guitar get blended with supplemental stabs of organ sounds — equally heavily distorted, diminished and discordant. (While I’m not 100% sure what that title means, it does refer to an Indian city famous as a site of Hindi pilgrimage, as well as being associated with “traditions of death and mourning” per Wikipedia, so that seems appropriate.)

Stream or download the album from the Sacri Suoni Bandcamp page (here), or it’s also available on vinyl through the record label (here).
 

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Sacri Suoni: Bandcamp
Electric Valley Records: website | Bandcamp