AN NCS PREMIERE: AGLO — “LAST RITES”

Imagine a Venn diagram. In one circle are fans of Star Trek: Voyager. In the other are fans of crushing, crawling, and careening sludge and death metal. In the intersection is where you’ll find the Australian band AGLO and its debut album Build Fear.

How big is the intersection? Who can say? Granted, it’s unlikely that AGLO will be invited to play a Voyager con, but it’s wonderful to imagine the stunned looks that would produce. Most people there would run for the exits in horror. Some would stay ’til the bitter end, either relishing the experience or too scared to move, and the size of the intersection would expand.

Yes it’s true that AGLO‘s new album, which will be released by Brilliant Emperor Records on November 10th, is entirely based on storylines from Star Trek: Voyager episodes. It’s also true that if you’re a fan of such bands as Crowbar, Incantation, Eyehategod, and Morbid Angel, you’ll find yourself rooted in place ’til the album’s bitter end, whether you care about Voyager or not.

Build Fear isn’t AGLO‘s first venture into the Star Trek universe. The band’s sole creator Aaron Osborne (IEXIST, Mental Cavity, Extortion) followed that muse in creating AGLO‘s 2022 Borg-inspired debut EP Collector, which was later released this past February by Gutter Prince Cabal in a revised and expanded edition called Into the Maze (and we helped out on that one with a premiere too). On the new album he’s accompanied by drummer Colin Young (Twitching Tongues, Gods Hate, DeadBody).

What we have for you today is the premiere of an album track named “Last Rites“, and Aaron Osborne introduces it this way:

“Last Rites” is the last song I wrote for the record, and as that often happens became my favorite when trying to think of an opener for the album. I really wanted to have cowbell on the record, as one of my favorite tropes for this band, ripping off Crowbar, dictated I must. Colin, who played drums on the record thought this song would suit it and when he showed me his idea, I was so stoked on it.

Lyrics, like all the songs on this record, are based on specific episodes or storylines from Star Trek: Voyager; this one is about a group of people who hibernate for years and years to hide from an apocalypse only to find out when awokened that their planet has been taken over by another race searching for a planet to call home – so they decide to take their home back. Brutal.

In line with that concept, “Last Rites” is indeed a brutal musical monster. It proceeds in a lumbering, crushing stomp, with drums that chop like an executioner’s ax and a bass that’s chewing through concrete.

The distorted guitar emits diseased and dismal vibrations — the whirring tremolo’d chords sound like the fevers of a noxious fatal illness, while other guitar manifestations have an equally toxic tone but either hideously groan or join in with the bass and drums to beat listeners to a bloody pulp. Meanwhile, Osborne‘s cavern-dwelling roar is as malignant and monstrous as the music.

About two-thirds in, there’s a jolting, gnawing, and squealing guitar bridge, and that’s where we get the cowbell — a countdown to an even more bone-smashing crushfest, where pile-driver chugs and a skull-snapping snare do the principal dirty work.

 

 

Let’s now share an entry from…

Captain’s Log, Stardate 47634.44:

After a difficult period of illness and a scarcity of recorded music, a peculiar entity has emerged from the heart of a dying star in a nearby cluster of planets. The crew has aptly named this enigmatic monolith “AGLO“. It has taken on the form of down-tuned guitars, slow hooks, and death metal sensibilities, infecting all who come into contact with its ravenous power.

Upon conducting communications diagnostics, it has been discovered that the latest audible horror, known as Build Fear, was recorded, and mixed by Taylor Young (God’s Hate, Kruelty, Tribal Gaze) at The Pit Recording Studio and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege.

Although the crew remains relatively calm and entranced by the sounds emanating from AGLO, fans of musical stylings similar to the likes of Crowbar, Incantation, Eyehategod, and Morbid Angel should approach with caution as their obsession could potentially pose a threat to their lives.

Finally, this log entry should serve as a warning to all who encounter this beast. Prepare yourselves, as the drive to worship at the altar of The Almighty Riff is strong, and resistance may prove futile.

The album’s artwork and layout are credited to Tom Sweetman. As of today, the album is available for pre-order from Brilliant Emperor, in vinyl LP and digital editions, with apparel:

PRE-ORDER:
https://brilliantemperor.bandcamp.com/album/build-fear
https://brilliantemperor.bigcartel.com/product/aglo-build-fear-lp

AGLO:
https://www.aglobrutal.bandcamp.com
https://www.instagram.com/aglobrutal
https://www.facebook.com/aglobrutal