Agriculture: Their Album 'The Spiritual Sound' Review – Unabashedly Gorgeous Noise from Blissful Extreme Metal Group
Every bit of elation, spiritual ascent, and intensity of heavy music bursts forth with overwhelming energy from the sophomore release by this self-proclaimed "blissful black metal" ensemble hailing from Los Angeles.
This new album pairs immense heaviness with creative intricacies. Lead single Bodhidharma propels along a guitar motif fit for a biker gang, before a blast of noise and shrieking heralds a melancholic atmospheric rock bridge section. The maligned art of the virtuosic guitar solo is brilliantly revived by axeman Richard Chowenhill, whose lead work here and on standout the song Flea will have you levitating with joy – yet the calm ballad the track Hallelujah features falling guitar notes played with youthful innocence.
Tracks like Micah and Serenity are high-speed punk rock, while the piece Dan’s Love Song is drum free and has glacial Sunn O)))-style distortion rumbling along underneath its dream-pop loveliness. Melodies in black metal can often be absent or overly fussy, yet Agriculture’s riffs and hooks are bright and original, and final track The Reply even evokes a more intense the band Radiohead.
Fans of experimental metal acts Deafheaven will likely adore all this contrasting dynamics and unabashedly gorgeous noise, especially because Agriculture also feature two divergent singing approaches, divided here across two vocalists. One vocalist adds occasional soulful, clean singing, but the star is the other vocalist, whose voice trembling on one track but fiercely howling elsewhere.
In typical black metal fashion, it's difficult to make out her lyrics, but they’re worth the effort: the stories she conveys about suicidal friends and anti-LGBTQ bigotry are devastating, just like her search for purpose in a reality that inexorably bends towards conflict.
