The Agonist - Once Only Imagined
Century Media - CM77689-2 - 23rd July 2007
By Paddy Walsh
With a melodic death sound that is distincly Swedish, it is surprising to note that The Agonist are in fact Canadian. Following the Arch Enemy school of melodic thrashiness - and mercifully going for the heavier end of this scale -Once Only Imagined is perhaps best likened to Wages of Sin era Arch Enemy, with liberal doses of melodic vocals sprinkles throughout. Vocalist Alissa White-Gluz has a satisying growl that's employed for the most part, but her clean singing is hampered by being of the saccharine, Evanescence variety which merely serves to take the edge off what are some excellent slices of Swedish-style melodic death, which at times recall In Flames.
Despite this, The Agonist have a great flair for hair-raising metal moments and, as a debut, Once Only Imagined is a consistently entertaining album sure to set them up for a bright future within the metal scene. Crucial to this is the fantastic axework of guitarist Danny Marino, who keeps things interesting through a mixture of the aforementioned melodeath moments, coupled with occasional forays into straight-ahead thrash and death metal territory. The rhythm section comes up trumps too, with bassist Chris Kells making himself known with some interesting moments where he actually follows the lead guitars to great effect. Alissa's vocals are obviously influenced by Angela Gossow, and they're for the most part effective, the forays into melodic territory being nicely offset by the uncompromising heaviness of the riffs. Lyrically, The Agonist veer into straightedge territory but in a rather less overt, patronising and annoying fashion, which as a result actually adds to the experience. Overall, Once Only Imagined is one of the better examples of female-fronted metal on the scene at the moment, being a welcome break from the saturated sugar-coated goth muck that the rise of Nightwish has spawned. Let's hope The Agonist resist the temptation of lucrative MTV rotation and keep their heaviness intact, in which case we'll have a band to rival Arch Enemy themselves.
Official The Agonist Website
Official Century Media Website
Century Media - CM77689-2 - 23rd July 2007
By Paddy Walsh
With a melodic death sound that is distincly Swedish, it is surprising to note that The Agonist are in fact Canadian. Following the Arch Enemy school of melodic thrashiness - and mercifully going for the heavier end of this scale -Once Only Imagined is perhaps best likened to Wages of Sin era Arch Enemy, with liberal doses of melodic vocals sprinkles throughout. Vocalist Alissa White-Gluz has a satisying growl that's employed for the most part, but her clean singing is hampered by being of the saccharine, Evanescence variety which merely serves to take the edge off what are some excellent slices of Swedish-style melodic death, which at times recall In Flames.
Despite this, The Agonist have a great flair for hair-raising metal moments and, as a debut, Once Only Imagined is a consistently entertaining album sure to set them up for a bright future within the metal scene. Crucial to this is the fantastic axework of guitarist Danny Marino, who keeps things interesting through a mixture of the aforementioned melodeath moments, coupled with occasional forays into straight-ahead thrash and death metal territory. The rhythm section comes up trumps too, with bassist Chris Kells making himself known with some interesting moments where he actually follows the lead guitars to great effect. Alissa's vocals are obviously influenced by Angela Gossow, and they're for the most part effective, the forays into melodic territory being nicely offset by the uncompromising heaviness of the riffs. Lyrically, The Agonist veer into straightedge territory but in a rather less overt, patronising and annoying fashion, which as a result actually adds to the experience. Overall, Once Only Imagined is one of the better examples of female-fronted metal on the scene at the moment, being a welcome break from the saturated sugar-coated goth muck that the rise of Nightwish has spawned. Let's hope The Agonist resist the temptation of lucrative MTV rotation and keep their heaviness intact, in which case we'll have a band to rival Arch Enemy themselves.
Official The Agonist Website
Official Century Media Website
