Still play crusty sludge like Cursed mixed with Fudge Tunnel. It's played with a looseness which brings Eyehategod to mind. It is controlled though and never descends into chaos like EHG sometimes does. They are well marshalled by the drummer/vocalist who is a frantic Animal-esque presence at the back of the stage. Electronic samples bring the mighty Canvas to mind, particularly the split that they did with Hard To Swallow. Good stuff.
Agriculture's guitarist starts the set by playing some country chords which are then sped up and played with plenty of tremolo. Even when all the band join in and they blast through the opening song, there are still some homely, country touches in the background. At heart, they seem to be a country band masquerading as black metal. It comes across as fresh and original live as it does on record. Imagine if Liturgy were good ol' boys and girls. It's powerful and heavy yet there are huge swathes of melody running through the guitar lines. At one point they slow it down so it's just bass and drums played at a very crawling pace, topped with delicate vocals giving it a Chelsea Wolfe feel. When they kick back into gear, it is terrific and has real impact. The vocals are suitably harsh and anguished, although there is one part where the guitarist sings clean and it is terrific as he has a classic singer/songwriter style voice. Not to be overshadowed, the other guitarist breaks into some Eddie Van Halen guitar pyrotechnics at one point whilst the drummer is so fast, it's unbelievable. These are individual high points but, overall, I am blown away by this special band. I'm not the only either as the rest of the crowd seems to love them too. The feeling is mutual as the band seem genuinely excited to be here playing for us too.
Agriculture ****
Still ****
No comments:
Post a Comment