Agriculture – Agriculture (The Flenser)
Wednesday, 19th July 2023
What black metal band names themselves Agriculture? The answer is, a competent and interesting one. The Los Angeles based quartet’s self-described ‘ecstatic black metal’ tag is by no means a misnomer as you listen to their eponymous debut from The Flenser. The Circle Chant, their 1st EP, generated enough buzz to land them a deal with one of underground music’s tastemakers and their debut LP just ups the ante with 6 killer tracks that shows black metal shines best when it isn’t confined in a box.
“The Glory of the Ocean” gently eases the listener to the LP with its innocuous guitars that swell into tentative gliding passages signaling the arrival of something that’s bound to shatter your preconceptions of black metal’s boundaries. The gloves are off by the songs’ midpoint as Leah Levinson screams, banshee-like while the band delivers a black metal assault that strangely feels uplifting, as opposed to the eternal damnation imposed upon the listener by more traditional BM acts. This is never a bad thing. Guitarists Daniel Meyer-O’Keefe and Richard Chowenhill proceed to seemingly break their strings with such a furious display of ecstatic strumming Kern Haug is no slouch behind the kit as well. Definitely a refreshing track from one of the most promising bands to rise out of the muck of run-of-the-mill BM bands of late. “The Well” perhaps is best seen as a filler, a short ditty sung with such earnestness by either Leah or Daniel, it’s hard to tell which one handled the vocals for the tune.
“Look Pt.1”, the first single, features a jubilant chord progression anchored by guest saxophonist Patrick Shiroishi’s skronk. “Look Pt .2” stops and starts repeatedly, the vibrance of the track shines through in the absence of malice and trite devil worship that has become stale over the years from cookie-cutter BM bands capitalizing on the fear factor. “Look Pt.3” rounds off the suite with frenetic guitars that sounds like both guitarists are racing one another to an unknowable end point. The demented blasts of saxophone and violin are welcome ingredients to the usual black metal brew, kudos to Shiroishi and Pauline Lay respectively. Kern exercises his leg on the bass drum for a few seconds before the others return to finish what they started, by utilizing buzzsaw guitars to trephinate the audiences. “Relier” ends on a high note as the furious riffs suddenly pivot to drones reminiscent of Sunn O))) before coming back to bathe the listener once more in the glory of Agriculture’s unique BM offering.
What can I say? I love the spiritual sound of ecstatic black metal by the band Agriculture.
