The Band Agriculture: The Spiritual Sound Album Analysis – Boldly Beautiful Noise from Blissful Extreme Metal Group
Every bit of elation, spiritual ascent, and intensity of heavy music radiates with overwhelming force from the second album by this self-proclaimed "blissful black metal" ensemble based in Los Angeles.
The Spiritual Sound combines crushing weight with imaginative detailing. Key track the song Bodhidharma propels along a guitar motif suited to a biker gang, before a blast of noise and screaming introduces a sad post-rock bridge section. The maligned art of the virtuosic guitar solo is spectacularly resurrected by guitarist the lead guitarist, whose lead work on this track and on highlight Flea will have you levitating with joy – yet the calm ballad the track Hallelujah features descending guitar melodies played with youthful innocence.
Songs such as Micah and the song Serenity are fast-paced hardcore punk, while Dan’s Love Song is without percussion and has glacial drone-metal fuzz rumbling along underneath its ethereal beauty. Black metal melodies can often be absent or too complex, but the band's riffs and hooks are bright and original, and final track The Reply even recalls a much heavier the band Radiohead.
Listeners who enjoy experimental metal acts Deafheaven will probably love all this dynamic shifting and unabashedly gorgeous noise, especially because Agriculture also have two divergent vocal styles, split here across two vocalists. One vocalist contributes sporadic melodic vocals, yet the standout is the other vocalist, whose voice trembling on Bodhidharma but fiercely howling elsewhere.
In typical black metal fashion, it’s hard to make out her lyrics, yet they are worth the effort: the narratives she sings about personal struggles and anti-LGBTQ bigotry are heart-wrenching, as is her quest for purpose in a reality that relentlessly trends towards violence.
