AGRIMONIA - Awaken
Southern Lord
The first time I listened to this was late night after work. I wasn't captivated enough to keep it going so instead I went on a film noir of Vincent Price movie binge for two days. I've seen all of those flicks before but hey some are good while others lack enough Price and the seem boring. Which brings me back to this release. I've heard this all before and while some things are decent there still a boredom factor to contend with.
AGRIMONIA are not a new band in fact they've been around for a decade (although it's the first time for me hearing em) with a handful of releases under their belt. They're basically a side project from Gothenburg, Sweden featuring one guy from AT THE GATES and two guys from MIASMAL plus two other people one of whom is their female vocalist. Since the guys in AT THE GATES and MIASMAL have decent enough death metal day jobs I can see why this band has a sporadic time table for releasing material.
As with many side projects the idea behind them is to get together to create music different then what they usually do. In AGRIMONIA's case they answer the question what if ARCH ENEMY went full on melodic death doom and added flourishes of post metal something or other in order to fill gaps and extend length of songs. The vocalist, Christina Blom, utilizes a decent feral blackened growl throughout. Unfortunately that's all she's got as far as a vocal delivery. No variations what so ever emanate from her fried vocal chords. In an era where female vocalists in extreme metal are not new and display plenty of variety and talent you'd expect more.
Now with all that said this third full length from AGRIMONIA is not just a package of microwave Swedish meatballs (aka: looks great on the package but tastes bland). The band has some good material on this six song package. "Withering" is an absolute masterpiece with KATATONIA death doom sorrow, old fashioned hardcore rockin and progressive moments of filler. I'd say Christina's style of singing works best on here. Also there's "Foreshadowed" which is another cut featuring some intricate guitar work opening the cut before the melodic death rhythms kick in. In the end it's a decent release.
https://www.southernlord.com/
https://agrimoniasl.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/agrimonia.swe
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