Skip to content
ASTRAL NOIZE
Forward-thinking, noise-ridden curation.
  • Home
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Gaming
  • Book Club
  • Shop
  • Label
  • Events
  • Patreon
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • Search
Uncategorized
by Astral NoizeMarch 19, 201812:00 pmMarch 19, 2018

Review: Agrimonia – Awaken

Agrimonia’s output has always been defined by its dense sound packed with flavours from across the extreme metal spectrum, but their fourth LP takes even greater strides into uncharted territories, borrowing more heavily from the realm of prog. That’s not to say the band – whose experienced line-up includes members of At The Gates, Skitsystem and Martyrdöd – has gone full Opeth, but there are certainly touches of the Swedish prog metal giant’s grand sound present amongst the raucous.

At their core, Agrimonia continue to strike a complementary mix of callous black metal, steamrolling metallic punk and slick post-metal, creating a sound that delights in its crushing weight but also immerses you in its more emotive flourishes, at all times retaining a penchant for both hefty weight and poignant atmospherics without compromising one for the other. Even at their most progressive, Agrimonia remain ruthlessly potent, due in no small part to consistently thunderous riffs and Christina Blom’s razor-sharp roars.

As with the group’s previous efforts, Awaken comprises lengthy, forward-thinking compositions (with the exception of the much more succinct instrumental interlude that is the title-track) that seamlessly drift from one musically diverse moment to another without dropping the on-running menacing atmosphere, wielding the sort of shrewd song-crafting ability that few can muster without the results sounding haphazard and misguided. The album’s treacherous assault can be a lot to take in, but even at their most ambitious, every note feels essential, making for a lengthy endeavour that’s well worth the effort.

Awaken is out now on Southern Lord Records.

Words: George Parr

Liked it? Take a second to support Astral Noize on Patreon!
Tagged with: agrimonia awaken black metal crust extreme heavy metal post-metal punk review Reviews

iThere are no comments

Add yours

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Top Posts

  • Curating Resistance: A Guilt-Free Guide to Black Metal
  • Bloodsoaked: The Definitive Obituary Album Ranking
  • Shreds of Sanity: Bolt Thrower's Entire Discography Ranked
  • Curating Resistance: The Ultimate List of Anti-Fascist Bands
  • Drama, Tension and Pathos: 21 Brilliantly Weird Film Scores
  • Mgła, Dawn Ray'd and Damnation 2019: The Importance of Anti-Fascist Presence in Live Spaces
  • Under the Radar: 18 of the Underground's Finest Death Metal Bands
  • Ranked: Electric Wizard
  • Gloryhammer and the Danger of Power Metal Doublethink
  • Invocations and Incantations: Introducing Faetooth's Otherworldly Fairy Doom

Recent Posts

  • The Stink of Influence: In Conversation with The Melvins’ Dale Crover
  • Video Premiere / One Leg One Eye – Glistening, She Emerges
  • Festival Review and Photo Gallery: Amplifest 2022- Part Three
  • Festival Review: ArcTanGent 2022- Part One
  • Interview / Ggu:ll – Grumpy Existentialist Doom
  • Review / Acausal Intrusion – Seeping Evocation
  • Review / Candlemass – Sweet Evil Sun
  • Review / Trevor Dunn’s Trio-Convulsant avec Folie à Quatre – Séances
  • Review / Fuzznaut – Apophenia
  • Review / Epectase – Nécroses

Follow us on Twitter

My Tweets

Playlist

Begin typing your search above and press return to search. Press Esc to cancel.