Black metal has been going through a bit of a cultural reevaluation over the last several years. Even besides the hotly contested blackgaze movement founded by Alcest and popularized by Deafheaven, black metal has been bred with ambient (Wolves in the Throne Room), post-hardcore (Portrayal of Guilt), Gospel and R&B (Zeal & Ardor), folk music (Mount Eerie) and much more. Most purists decry these hybrid breeds, declaring that they cop black metal’s aesthetic while pulling out all of its teeth.
Now, I don’t generally give too much stock to the complaints of the Kvlt critics (kritics?), but there is some validity to that last part. Most genre fusions lack the blinding ferocity of traditional black metal, using its harshness as a color in a much wider palette of sonic textures.
However, that isn’t the case with the new self-titled record from LA “ecstatic black metal” outfit Agriculture. While the melodies and lyrics are several degrees brighter than what you’d hear from Darkthrone or Bathory, it gives absolutely no sonic quarter, offering a record that is as brutal and abrasive as it is life-affirming.
From a strictly aesthetic standpoint, this is a straight black metal record. Guitars are nearly always distorted and tremolo-picked. The drums spend the majority of their time playing Gatlin-gun quick blast beats. Vocals are delivered in a shrieking black metal howl, with only one exception. However, those tones are merely the tones they use to perform compositions that are bursting with exuberance. Much of the record is played in a major key, choosing melody over dissonance.
Listening to it, you can imagine that the group writes the songs quietly, translating them into black metal instrumentation later. This is lent particular credence by the juxtaposition of “The Well” and “Look, Pt. 1.” The two use the same melody and lyrics. “The Well” offers an interpretation with a single clean guitar and clean vocals while the latter uses shredding guitars to play the vocal metal and blast beating drums pull the tempo forward. Similarly, “The Glory of the Ocean” opens with a slide guitar and lap steel playing a melody that is later played as loud as possible.
Lyrically too, it’s a shift from trad black. While there is no shortage of tragedy or sadness here, there is a peace that underlies it. “The Glory of the Ocean” frames a suicide-by-drowning as a holy act, giving their body back to the deified ocean. In “The Well,” a mother weeps for the loss of a child who has found the arms of God. In the closing track “Relier” the narrator looks at the lack of control they have over their life and chooses to trust in whatever force holds it together, explaining, “I call it God.”
Yet for all of its much-discussed exuberance, there is a vast scope of emotions on display here. The “Look” suite has many moments of outright darkness, flirting with thrash and death metal. Even “The Glory of the Ocean” has some sections that are completely filthy. And, I must once again reiterate that even the joyful moments are positively blistering.
There have been a lot of bands that have tried to turn black metal to make a joyful sound, without as much success. I’ve read many reviews that sound like the press release of this record. Liturgy comes to mind specifically. Agriculture sounds like I have wanted Liturgy to sound like every time I listen to them. In a world where bands making what could be described as “ecstatic black metal” seem to err one way or the other, Agriculture manages to do both.
Agriculture is out now through The Flenser.
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