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On Oct. 3, Los Angeles black metal band Agriculture released their second full-length album titled, \u201cThe Spiritual Sound.\u201d While the band self-identifies with the black metal label, it is worth noting that they preface this with the adjective \u201cecstatic.\u201d Agriculture is not black metal in the sense that they worship second-wave Norwegian bands or throw pig\u2019s blood onto their audience, nor does their record have the production value of a ham radio. Agriculture instead pulls from black metal\u2019s shrieking vocals and frenetic riffage, the meticulous crafting of an atmosphere much unlike the undercurrent of evil (maybe more of an actual current) found in your Mayhem <\/em>or Darkthrone albums. The album pulls the listeners in many directions, switching from genre to genre between songs, ensuring by the end of the pulling we\u2019re all basically taffy\u2013 stretched, worn out but better off than we started.\u00a0<\/p>\n The album pulls the listeners in many directions, switching from genre to genre between songs, ensuring by the end of the pulling we\u2019re all basically taffy- stretched, worn out, but better off than we started.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In fact, Agriculture ventures so far into the avant garde and experimental realm with \u201cThe Spiritual Sound\u201d that they have cited Alex G as an influence on the album, a comparison that gains footing upon listening to the softer songs on the record like \u201cDan\u2019s Love Song\u201d and \u201cHallelujah.\u201d \u201cDan\u2019s Love Song\u201d and \u201cThe Reply\u201d are particularly notable for their foray into the blackgaze genre. Heavy fuzz graces the soundscape and evokes other bands managed by their record label, The Flenser, such as Have a Nice Life and (formerly) Deafheaven (The Flenser is certainly one to watch, with upcoming releases such as \u201cIn the Earth Again\u201d by Chat Pile that should be on the radar of any dark music enjoyer).\u00a0<\/p>\n Though dipping their toes into several genres over the course of the new record, Agriculture never abandons the metal label, though it wears it differently\u2013 tracks like \u201cFlea\u201d and \u201cBodhidharma\u201d have no shortage of hectic guitar solos sure to please a metal purist. But for a black metal band, listening to \u201cThe Spiritual Sound\u201d certainly feels a lot like a blinding white sun, an ultraviolet beam straight through the skull. This record is unbelievably bright. There is an overwhelming sense of everything good and everything awful, and a violent purging of the latter. Agriculture is throwing a plate against the wall, real fine china and hearing it shatter. They\u2019re letting you cry, cry hard, except everyone you love is there too. That warmth, or rather burning heat, is what has set this album apart from so many of their contemporaries. It possesses the kind of passion that reminds you that people will never be done creating art in the form of music, and if you think the era of good music is long gone, you simply aren\u2019t looking in the right places\u2013 nothing sacred will ever be a Top 40 hit.\u00a0<\/p>\n This record is unbelievably bright<\/em>. There is an overwhelming sense of everything good and everything awful, and a violent purging of the latter. Agriculture is throwing a plate against the wall, real fine china, and hearing it shatter, or crying, crying hard, except everyone you love is there too, letting you cry.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n The first single of the album, \u201cBodhidharma\u201d was my first ever Agriculture song, and from the get-go, I was hooked. <\/em>If you are to listen to any track in isolation, let it be this one. Feels like you\u2019re gonna hurt forever, spoken in whispers, is followed by a sonic explosion of manic riffs and screams that will make the hair on the back of your neck stand straight up. For what eventually became my most anticipated album of the year, The Spiritual Sound is all catharsis and ecstasy, and well worth the forty-three minute listen.<\/p>\n Photo courtesy of @agriculture_music on Instagram.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
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