Although very much more of a modern metal proposition Canadian band The Agonist have always been a pretty solid affair and one that I have fairly enjoyed what I have heard of their output to date. After three albums there was no denying that singer Alissa White-Gluz had a pretty formidable voice and could be both brutal and harmonic, up there with the best of them. Obviously I was not alone with this thought as on Angela Gossow’s somewhat surprise retirement from Arch Enemy she was announced as their new voice. Naturally fronting a band of their status and stature meant that her time with The Agonist was over but I am sure nobody is going to blame her for upping sticks and joining one of the most popular bands around in the genre. So The Agonist had the unenviable task of having to find someone new to fit her boots and along came Chicagoan Vicky Psarakis previously of E.V.E. to step into the fold.
Playing ‘Eye Of Providence’ without any preconceptions the first time I was instantly struck by two things. The first is that Vicky has a great voice and has no problems fitting in here in the slightest and the second that if nobody had told me this was not Alissa singing, I probably would have been none the wiser. I guess if something is not broken there is no need to fix it and its very much business for usual for the band, something their fans will no doubt be more than happy about.
There’s no shortage of material for this ‘discovered on YouTube’ vocalist to cut her teeth on here either with over 13 tracks spanning almost an hour’s worth of material. Belting in with a rasp over heavy burgeoning chops on opener ‘Gates Of Horn and Ivory’ the heavier elements are defined in a way that themselves would not be out of place on an Arch Enemy album let alone one by The Agonist. For me however it’s the clean parts she excels in with a real natural air and grace about them, sassy and delivered perfectly. The rampant flourishing guitar work and core bruising drumming here have a really heavy feel that are guaranteed to get you banging your head as you get accustomed to both her growls and rafter hitting clean sweeps. It’s a statement and one to have you sitting up and taking notice. There’s not a huge amount to define one song from the next at first and it’s a case of just going with the flow which thankfully is stormy and nice and punchy as riffs juggernaut and bounce you around and the hefty bombast bruises you. Numbers don’t particularly overstay their welcome but all have a certain amount of catchiness about them, definitely illustrating a cause of getting on down to business. It would be impossible for the band not to have the ferocious side of things on display vocally, apparently they did consider getting a male vocalist at first but decided it wouldn’t work (not sure if that’s image wise as much as anything else.) It’s the clean parts that excel though as they show they have found a singer who has got soul and can belt her parts out superbly. As she hits some of these parts on numbers like Danse Macabre (which suffers a bit with an unnecessary male vocal rasp backing things) I am reminded a little of Julianne Reagan of All About Eve and actually find myself waiting for a ballad to hear what she can do.
Too much attention maybe on the vocals but they really do take centre stage not that the band are not trying enough to get in on the action and musically this can be both fast and furious with some excellent twin guitar harmonics from Danny Marino and Pascal Jobin scorching away and sending you giddy. ‘Perpetual Notion’ sticks out, there’s a bit of a lounge, night club, cabaret vibe going on with some of the vocal parts on it. A more belting and ravenous approach is never that far away though and some of the tracks really are designed to give you a good and fairly brutal seeing to. That long anticipated ballad crops up with ‘The Gentle Disease’ it’s also the one to get the latest video treatment and as anticipated quite a gorgeous acoustic number, really showing off the vocalist at her most fragrant.
This was one of those albums that kind of fell on my review pile by default and I’m rather glad it did as I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to. It could have done with being a couple of tracks shorter but that’s a small criticism from a band who know doubt are more interested in giving their fans more bang for their bucks. New boots filled more than capably.
(7.5/10 Pete Woods)
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