Agonal Hymns

Agonal Hymns is the sonic equivalent of overdosing on bath salts and then having your face chewed off by a pitbull. It's one of the most ferocious BDM albums of all time, somehow managing to stay captivating and relistenable despite essentially being 20 minutes of murderously unrelenting blastbeats over incomprehensible guitar and vomiting noises. While it shares some musical elements with projects that Kilner has been a part of, namely Putridity and Iniquitous Deeds, it's also supremely unique and creative in composition and production. The drumming is utterly furious and barbaric, the guitar tone is disgusting but offers a lot more clarity than similarly styled projects, the vocals are totally inhuman, and the riffs are completely unhinged. This album somehow blends some of the most abstruse, pinch harmonic-overladen guitar violence with layers of eery clean chords, harmonized solos, and even a few demented "melodic" hooks.

What results is a terrifying and manic atmosphere which doesn't let up for even a second. The lyrics perfectly reinforce this aesthetic, and are some of my favorite in all of death metal. The one negative thing I can say about this album is that more could be done with the vocals. They're by no means bad, and the horrifying monotone gurgle absolutely fits the rest of the music, but I think there's room to push the limits as the rest of the album does. Overall, I cannot recommend this album enough, any fan of aggressive and disgusting music would be remiss to not give this a few listens.