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The Agonist > Eye of Providence > Reviews
The Agonist - Eye of Providence

If you don't find this repetitive, you're lying - 24%

PorcupineOfDoom, February 23rd, 2015

I'm surprised that I'm even reviewing this album, but for whatever reason I felt the need to see if The Agonist had suddenly made a drastic improvement to their music (don't know why I thought that was likely given how their last EP was, but you never know with these things). And surprise, surprise, they didn't.

I'm sure it's well known by now that the band's previous vocalist left in order to front Arch Enemy, and I guess that I thought maybe Vicky could steer the band in a different direction from where they normally go. To be perfectly frank, she doesn't do that at all. Every song has the exact same feel to it as the last one, and actually I find them to be just a slightly less extreme version of what was on offer before. That is to say that the already metalcore-dominated act has buried the slight melodeath influences that made them bearable beforehand to the point that they're practically non-existent. Just what we needed.

Speaking of Vicky's influence, she seems to focus more on cleans than growls across Eye of Providence, whereas with Alissa you could expect a solid split between the two styles. I'm not exactly a fan of Alissa's growling style, but she really makes Vicky look weak in comparison when it comes to that area as Vicky's growls aren't much more than a mere rasp. So you'd expect the singing to make up for it, right? Um, no. Alissa is actually very good at singing (despite sounding a little too melodramatic), one of the reasons that I feel she's the wrong person for Arch Enemy (cleans don't find a place there), whereas Vicky is just... meh. Considering that the band put her way before everyone else in terms of how loud each part of the band is, that's not what you want.

Of course, when their arsenal is as limited as it appears to be here, what other choice do they have? The drumming is just plain stuff, slow and plodding and mostly consisting of snare and cymbals. The blast beats only occasionally feature, and even then it isn't that impressive. And of course there are the guitars, which seem to be of the mindset that the best way of attracting an audience is to play the same thing on a loop across every song on the album (mainly chugs). Oh boy, what fun! Even the random melodic solos (seemingly the only bit holding any resemblance to melodic death metal) get stale after they've been recycled three or four times each. Heck, even the acoustics are so overused that by the time it reaches A Gentle Disease (solely acoustic) you get the feeling that you've heard the song already.

Just like with Before the Dawn I find that there's next to no emotion put into this stuff either. It all sounds so bland, so uninspired. None of the chugging that the guitars do draw any kind of feeling from me, not even the slightly interesting solo sections. Nothing sounds like the band were feeling anything when playing, which gives the impression that they just turned up and played it with a stone-cold expression. If they don't feel it, why will anyone else? Who here has heard Lloth's new song I (Dead Inside)? Really, that's emotional. I cried. Nothing on Eye of Providence makes me come anywhere near doing so, or making me so much as smile.

Each song also drags on to the point that I'm fed up with each one well before the end is even within sight, a matter not helped by the huge amount of repetition that goes on. I don't understand why this even happens given that it wasn't good the first time around, but maybe I'm missing something. I guess if you hear it enough times then eventually you might develop a fondness for the stuff.

I might have been very, very harsh here, but in all honesty I think it's justified. The Agonist used to at least be somewhat respectable with songs like Thank You, Pain. If that's what you're expecting here, you'll end up very disappointed.

Solid, Yet Average - 65%

doomknocker, February 23rd, 2015
Written based on this version: 2015, CD, Century Media Records

Despite general opinion on them as a whole, I always found The Agonist to be one of those bands I've always wanted to fully check out yet never did outside of the occasional song here and there. For whatever reason these Canadian bashers have showed up time and again on my radar, and I just figured "one of these days...", with none of those days coming to pass. Curiosity of the strangest kind, if nothing else, for I know how iffy the smirks get when they stand before the gaze of the metal elite. But whatever. So much ado has recently been made about the AGONIST fellas, namely the loss of their original vocalist and subsequent new singer entering the fold, so my first entry into their musical world may not be the best, yet how does this latest album stand as is...?

The sound presented on "Eye of Providence" is clearly more melodeath than anything else, with elements of their older metalcore days sticking with them, giving us an above average collective of chunky post-thrash riffing, semi-epic guitar/vocal lead harmonies and groovy rhythms you'd come to expect with the group, if not the style in general. The whole of the record is proficient and accomplished, with occasional moments where the rather limited songwriting and creative ends that it all sounds nifty (the majority of "Faceless Messenger" is a prime slab of modern melodic death metal with almost too many melodies to spare that doesn't come off as tired or fatigued, so props on them for THAT at least) and, taking the good with the bad, it's decently done through and through, crafted by a band that, even after all these years, feels the proverbial gun of proving oneself behind them and go about things as convincingly as can be. And on that energetic level alone one could appreciate what's going on here, even if the end result isn't their cup of blood.

More often than not you'll find something grand to partake in, as saving the majority of the songwriting rely on harmonic guitar leads and notation keeps it from being too much of a hassle to sit through. Sure, there are moments where the chunky stop-start segments and breakdowns, per usual with these guys/n/gal given where they've come from, and it tends to get tiresome after a while, but put in this context it works well enough to overlook or not be bothered by it (especially when, during said parts, new vocalist Vicky Psarakis shoots for a rather delicious multi-layered chorus you can focus on above all else). Speaking of which (as, of course, this was front page news for a while), Ms New Singer Lady makes that dual-voiced approach her own, with more energy and fire behind her metalcore-ish growls and screams over the clear yet somewhat thin Stefani-like cleans. And there's no sense of nervousness here, no lack of confidence in either of her approaches, despite an unevenness here and there (e.g. sometimes the growls sound strong, sometimes they sound weathered and hollow). But all things considered she's a good addition to the group, able to find her footing and connect with them on a musical level her first time through. Not too bad, if I may say so.

All in all "Eye of Providence" has moments that are real nice and a few more moments that are ho-hum, with no majorly positive or otherwise traits therein. It's good to see them stretching beyond their earlier musical roots in order to maintain a level of relevance in a changing climate, and chances are if they keep up this pace they could last longer and not be considered "just another -core band". But such a walk seems slow in approach, so I guess we shall see...