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AGENBITE MISERY “Remorse Of Conscience”
AGENBITE MISERY “Remorse Of Conscience”
By Dr. Abner Mality
Well, this is...interesting, at the very least. An avant-garde heavy metal exploration of James Joyce’s stream of consciousness novel “Ulysses” by a band from New Hampshire. This kept my interest as it lurched from one form of metal to another, covering a whole kaleidoscope of styles as it tries to capture the manic energy of Joyce’s seminal work. I can’t say I am 100% sold on the whole thing, but there’s a lot to admire here.
For a change, I’ll tackle this with brief capsule descriptions of each track…
1. “Telemachean Echoes”: Short track, hard hitting yet smooth, stitched together with a math-like precision. There are spoken and whispered vocals reading from “Ulysses”, a recurring motif.
2. “Cascara Sagrada”: A mix of almost HELMET-like hardcore with dissonant black metal riffing, with vocals varying from roars to shrieks. It builds to a noisy conclusion.
3. “A Charitable View of Temporary Sanity”: One of the album’s epic behemoths. Starts with smooth jazz-like ambience, city noises and recited dialogue from “Ulysses”, then switches to a cacophonous kind of funeral doom. Gets rather boring and comes across bloated and unable to hold interest.
4. “Whatness of Allhorse” : Now the band switches to a synth-driven post-punk/Goth kind of groove, very much in BAUHAUS style. The heaviness gradually creeps in. Actually a good example of Goth metal style, showing the band’s versatility.
5. “Bellwether and Swine” : Crushing heavy doom riffs, almost CANDLEMASS in tone, gives way to an explosion of raging black metal that sounds right out of MARDUK. An excellent track, full of power.
6. “Circe”: Ice cold black metal alternating between ripping speed sections and gloomy cold mid-pace. Gets more involved and almost psychedelic as it moves along.
7. “The Twice Charred Paths of Musing Disciples”: Long, pretentious title for a relatively brief track of soothing yet ominous ambience. Becomes quite haunting and ethereal.
8. “Mnesterophonia” : Another monster epic, over 14 minutes in length. Very reminiscent of early SUNN 0))) in how it switches from crushing ultra-doom to quiet sections to a long stretch of almost total noise. Ends in a burst of screams and cacophony. Not an easy listen but does manage to capture the chaotic conclusion of “Ulysses”.
So an interesting listen for sure! Use the above to determine if it’s for you. It’s definitely the more intellectual end of metal, that’s for certain.
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