The Band Agriculture: Their Album 'The Spiritual Sound' Album Analysis – Unabashedly Gorgeous Soundscapes from Ecstatic Black Metal Group
All the euphoria, spiritual ascent, and intensity in heavy sonic art radiates with overwhelming force from the second album by this self-described "blissful black metal" collective hailing from Los Angeles.
This new album combines immense heaviness with imaginative detailing. Lead single the song Bodhidharma propels along a guitar motif suited to a motorcycle crew, then a blast of noise and screaming heralds a melancholic post-rock middle eight. The often-criticized technique of the widdly-woo solo is spectacularly resurrected by guitarist Richard Chowenhill, whose soloing here and on standout Flea will have you floating in ecstasy – yet the gentle song the track Hallelujah features descending guitar melodies played with youthful innocence.
Tracks like Micah and the song Serenity are high-speed hardcore punk, while Dan’s Love Song is without percussion and has slow-moving drone-metal fuzz rumbling underneath its dream-pop loveliness. Melodies in black metal can often be either nonexistent or overly fussy, but the band's riffs and hooks are vibrant and innovative, and closer the song The Reply even recalls a more intense Radiohead.
Fans of experimental metal acts Deafheaven will probably love all this contrasting dynamics and fearlessly beautiful sound, particularly since Agriculture also feature two distinct singing approaches, divided here across two vocalists. Dan Meyer contributes sporadic soulful, clean singing, but the star is the other vocalist, whose voice trembling on one track but splenetically caterwauling elsewhere.
In typical black metal fashion, it’s hard to make out her lyrics, yet they are worth the effort: the narratives she conveys about suicidal friends and social injustice are devastating, as is her quest for purpose in a reality that inexorably bends towards violence.
