Agriculture are a post-black metal band from the US and this is their second album.
The Spiritual Sound is the 44-minute follow up to 2023’s well-received Agriculture. Combing a range of diverse ingredients into an engaging post-black metal sound, Agriculture’s new record is a step up for the band.
The Spiritual Sound delivers a style of post-black that’s more individual than that of its predecessor, which has succeeded in allowing Agriculture to grow their sound in impactful ways. The Spiritual Sound is an album of two halves, deliberately so. The first is the more aggressive side, laced with dark emotion. The second is the more emotive side, laced with dark aggression. Yeah, it’s not a perfect description, but it gets the message across. The two sides actually are noticeably distinct too. Even within this and the two halves though, each song is well-differentiated from its peers. Essentially, drop into The Spiritual Sound at any given track, and it’s relatively easy to work out where you are in the album’s overall journey; not a common thing to be able to say.
The songs on The Spiritual Sound are a collision of Agriculture’s myriad influences, presenting as even more of a hybrid style this time around. During the first half, a contemporary vision for black metal functions as a starting point, with blackgaze colouring, crust/hardcore energy, screamo venom, and jagged noise rock accents. Many of the guitars are heavier, and the drums are far more blunt and brutal, which inspires some of the riffs to follow suit. Each song presents an interpretation of the above that’s independent, yet exists within the same blackened framework. This manifests as five scathing songs of intimate hostility and blistering intensity, with different facets of the music brought to the fore in each song. As a collection of tracks they’re not without nuance, but they are certainly fiery and raging at heart.
After this, the second half is more diverse in nature. It is still rooted in the same set of influences, simply expressed sometimes quite differently. It’s complementary to the first half, and not always completely divorced from it, making The Spiritual Sound a holistic and satisfying listening experience overall.
The tracklist moves you through the record with narrative ease, and the handing over from one half to the other achieved via the sub-30-second title track of ominous drone. After this, the creativity blossoms in divergent directions. Following the brief interlude seamlessly is Dan’s Love Song; cleanly sung vocals atop droning post-rock. Bodhidharma is next, which merges the vicious edge of the Agriculture’s music with a more expressive form of feeling-rich undercurrent; blackgaze mixed with post-rock. Hallelujah is essentially a stripped back piece of minimalist folk rock, albeit with an ending that bursts into colourful full-blooded life. This ushers in the closing song The Reply. This brings everything together into one place and boasts guest vocals from Emma Ruth Rundle.
While the first half is more uniform in nature than the second, each song in the first has a strong identity of its own. I decided against a track-by-track description of this side, as it’s such a potent experience I wanted to take it in as a whole, despite its individualistic approach within this. The other reason is that it is also my favourite half. It’s absolutely lethal, and my immersion levels are consistently high. The second half is no less impressive, but slower burning, taking time to truly reveal its strengths. Besides, I love how harsh and unforgiving it is, so the first was always likely to be held in higher regard by me. As a whole though, the entire album offers a top quality exercise in variegated extremity and emotion.
Agriculture’s new album showcases a band that have developed their sound into something with a well-developed voice of its own. The Spiritual Sound is a winner, and one that’s very highly recommended for any fan of contemporary extremity.
Wonderbox Metal 