Agma

Having had a very successful resurrection since starting over in 2014, Wombbath made the doubly strange decision to release their newest full-length Agma on the last day of 2021 and to include 16 tracks on the album. Let that sink in for a moment…16 tracks of old-school death metal - no intros, no interludes, nothing under 3 minutes. That brings Agma close to a terrifying 73 minutes of extreme music, and this from a band that had heretofore mostly kept their releases around 40 minutes. Another much publicized talking point was how the Swedes had mixed in numerous minor elements to various tracks, resulting in a much wider variety than normal for a relatively typical take on their country’s native death metal style. These features range from slower, more melodic highlighting in cuts like 'Misantropi Och Förakt 'and 'Oh Fire of Hate' to eerie use of numerous blackened and gothic backing vocals to violin during 'Breathe in the Flames' and most dramatically on 'The Age of Death'. The novel instrument is provided by guitarist Thomas von Wachenfeldt, who along with drummer Jon Rudin and bassist Matt Davidson represents the recent influx of members that has put a spring in Wombbath’s step.

As a result of this variety, every song provides something different, and that’s a tremendous achievement…if you can stomach the album’s length. Essentially a double album of death metal, even avid listeners will have their endurance tested by Agma’s size, and that may prove off-putting at first. However, this quintet must have worked massively hard to maintain the quality and interest level, since Wombbath deliver all the blitzkrieg riffing, churning vocals, and thundering drumming that defines the band, then continue to push their formula in as many directions as possible. Slowing the pace a little and saturating certain cuts with atmospheric guitar parts aligns 'In Decay They Shall All Fester' with Gothic-era Paradise Lost and the debut of compatriots Cemetary, certainly when the lead guitar tone drops into that haunting sweet spot that Euro death doom perfected in the early ‘90s. These doomy and melodic elements combine to turn some songs like 'The Dead and the Dying' into unexpected anthems, while the purer death metal assaults feel more potent by comparison, as 'On a Path of Repulsion' proves at the end of the album. It probably won’t click after a single spin, but Agma is an absolute monster in more ways than one.


Originally written for The Metal Observer as part of Slow Cuts of 2021 - http://www.metal-observer.com/3.o/slow-cuts-of-2021/