The Spiritual Sound - Agriculture: Review
Agriculture are an LA black metal band who erupted onto the scene with a challenging but visceral self-titled debut in 2023. While I enjoyed that record, what I enjoyed even more was the Living Is Easy EP that followed it up and contained one of the band’s best songs to date, “In The House Of Angel Flesh.” With even stronger singles leading into their sophomore effort, The Spiritual Sound, I was expecting another outside-the-box black metal experience. That's exactly what I got.
The album is essentially split down the middle by a titular instrumental interlude, and everything that comes before it is pretty great. That includes the staggering single “The Weight.” I still think it's one of Agriculture’s best songs yet, and the way it builds to an absolutely pummeling peak across 5 minutes should be studied. The way it concludes is so eerie and suspicious, it's just irresistible.
As a whole, the record is often unsettled, both in its compositions and influences. The best example is also my favorite deep cut, “Flea.” The jittery, glitchy screams and uncharacteristically soaring guitar lead both come out of nowhere, but the song isn't afraid to dust in just as compelling quieter moments. It's also in service of a darkly heartbreaking lyrical narrative that you really deserve to experience yourself. That leads directly into a propulsive up-tempo shift on “Micah.” The vocal refrains fly in too quickly to even get a breath in, and it rules.
On the more sonically straightforward side of things, there's “Serenity.” The track is a big thematic highlight as I love the way it lyrically finds a sort of pseudo serenity in the cyclical nature of life and death. The looping chants the song concludes with are a perfect way to pay off the lyrical context. If there's a weak link in the first half, it's the opener “My Garden.” The track deploys some more snarling death metal-style vocals in between gentler, almost spoken interludes. Even if it comes off a bit heavy-handed, it's a thunderous start.
Though the second half is far from bad, it does feature a bit more of a mixed bag. On the third single, “Dan's Love Song,” the band strips things down to a dreamy sung performance hovering over a quiet but dense distorted haze. I love that the track truly is a love song, but manages to do it while fitting into the esoteric and existential framing of the rest of the album. The band tries something similar on “Hallelujah” but without the bed of noise underneath it all, I don't find that rendition nearly as compelling.
There's also the lead single “Bodhidharma,” which I've gone back and forth on a bit after initially loving. It deploys a composition that, much like the rest of the record, often feels itchy for its next unexpected shift. Even though I love that about the song, it also causes it to sometimes undercut its own momentum and undersell dramatic moments as a result. The closing track, “The Reply,” on the other hand, grew on me with every listen. Though it starts off mildly, it saves one final shift back into visceral black metal chaos for just the right moment. It feels like the band hits their peak form at just the right time to drag the record down to an utterly crushing finale.
The Spiritual Sound is definitely among the best metal albums I've heard this year. I think it's hard to argue that point any other way. As the band continues to drag black metal kicking and screaming into the experimental excesses of its potential, they also manage to keep a brutal, visceral finger on the pulse of what makes the genre so entrancing in the first place. Though the bouncy compositions can occasionally feel like a gimmick, they mostly heighten the talent for brooding instrumental texture and gripping songwriting that have underpinned everything the band has released so far. What results is just about the record I was expecting and it's hard to imagine being any happier than that. 8/10
For more black metal, check out my review of Deafheaven's Lonely People With Power
