Being unfamiliar with the previous recordings of Agonia Black Vomit (aka Agonia Blackvomit), my expectations about the band’s new album Cosmosatanic Wisdom were shaped largely by the band’s name and by the phrase “raw antichristian black metal” used in passing to describe the band’s earliest work. Yet whatever stylistic markers may have branded this Italian project’s previous recordings, its sole creator’s musical explorations have led him along interesting pathways, with results that are much less easily classifiable.
Before today, two songs from Cosmosatanic Wisdom have been revealed, and I’ve included streams of them below, but we also have the premiere of a third one for you in advance of the album’s June 20 release by Satanath Records’ sub-label Symbol Of Domination (Belarus) and Murdher Records (Italy). This one is named “Parallel Descanting Visions“.
This new song reveals surprises as it unfolds. The cracked-ice vocals and fiery riffing have an edge of gloom and despair as well as fury in their sound, but even when the song is racing with a murderous mien, the swirling, scintillating guitar lead (or is it a keyboard?) that rises in the music isn’t quite what you would expect. And then a further distinction manifests itself about halfway through, when the song slows and heaves, with the melody carried by an organ and ultimately by a beautiful though sorrowing dual-guitar harmony.
The other two songs prove to be just as gripping. The more prominent keyboard presence at the beginning and end of “Departure From Degrade” brought to mind horror movie soundtracks from decades past, adding to the drama and darkness of the song. It possesses a compelling melodic core and somber, gritty clean vocals that accompany the caustic harsh ones. It has an atmosphere that’s ominous and depressive, yet a stately infernal grandeur shrouds the music as well — until it catches fire near the end and begins to gallop. And here again, you’ll find another scintillating guitar lead which begins to seem like a hallmark of Agonia Black Vomit’s music on this album.
The third song, “Engines of Hate“, is different again from the first two discussed above, driven by a dark and swarming melody with an occult air and reaching heights of mental frenzy and deranged exultation (as I hear it). It’s unerringly grim and unsettling, but gripping — and yes, there’s a striking lead-guitar motif that pulses through the riffing and adds to the song’s appeal.
The diversity among just these three songs makes me eager to hear what else the album holds in store. I hope you enjoy them too.
Cosmosatanic Wisdom is Agonia Black Vomit’s second album, following Satanic Black Vomit in 2011 and a four-way split release in 2014 named Operazione paura, which was inspired by the Italian horror cult movie La casa dalle finestre che ridono, and another split in 2015 with the band Under. All music on the new album was created by Agonia.
Pre-order:
https://symbolofdomination.bandcamp.com/album/sodp097-agonia-black-vomit-cosmosatanic-wisdom-2017
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/agoniablackvomit