Review Summary: Technical Death metal band from France that you probably haven't heard of.
There is little chance of you having heard of this band before now. Indeed, I found this (French) band through some random link on Spotify. So after giving them a listen, I was really surprised by how aggressive and technical they were, given how many death metal bands I encounter accidentally are pretty bad. Not this though; this is powerful and fast death metal, sounding most like bands such as
Deicide, if you want a good and simple example. Add a bit more melody and synths and you've pretty much got this band nailed. On this particular album I found myself making tons of comparisons to
Vader too.
Agressor was founded in the mid 80s by Alex Colin-Tocquaine, the leader of the band and guitarist/vocalist. In a similar fashion to Jeff Waters of Annihilator he regularly swaps around band members. Unfortunately I cannot find the other band members, although people such as the great James Murphy have appeared on albums over the years. After a series of demos and EPs the band released
Neverending Destiny in 1990, starting their reign of the early French death metal scene. Two more albums followed, before a long period of stillness. The band then returned with
Medieval Rites in 2000, another blazing death metal release. After
The Spirit Of Evil (2001) the band returned with Deathreat in 2006. And, man, this is pretty awesome.
Generally the guitar work is typical tech-death metal. Alex's vocals reminded me of Piotr Wiwczarek of Vader, and some of the riffing is also very similar to Vader's. The drumming here is your typical technical double bass drumming, and overall there's little weighing the members down musically.
This album is pretty technical. Yeah, the first riff of the first track, the title track, gives some good proof of that, and it certainly shows the bands general style pretty quickly; technical death metal with some very fast thrash riffing as well as typical death metal traits such as pinch harmonics. Featuring some edited vocals a la Where The Slime Lives (
Morbid Angel), and a nice guitar solo mid track, it is a good opener and gives the listener a good idea of what to expect later on.
When Darkness is next, and after it's melodic intro it heads swiftly into the typical blastbeats. A great deal more melodic than the opener, and featuring some truly impressive vocals and a nice melodic guitar solo, as well as the typical frantic pace. Generally a more slowly paced track than the opener (which basically means it goes at your typical death metal pace), it still features great deals of technicality and some great riffs. Another powerful track then.
Nightmare Comes By is next, and is generally another fast paced track with some good riffs and double bass to fit, getting up to some very nice tempos. However, it does get more repetitive than the other tracks, and therefore falls slightly short of the previous two tracks.
Warrior Heart follows, and gets off to a nice melodic start with some synth voice over a nice technical, almost power metal style riff. Not to worry if you don't like power metal though, because it swiftly flies back into some fast double bass and powerful riffing. The chorus is followed with yet more memorable, technical riffing, before the synths start again. After a quick repeat, the track ends with some marching sounds. Very solid and melodic track.
Lust Of The Flesh is probably the most aggressive track so far in the album and is a good, fun death metal romp featuring some extremely good riffing and solos, and some good vocals. With some vocal effects and dueling riffs and a surprisingly catchy chorus. A highlight.
War In Heaven follows and starts with another melodic riff, before slamming strait into a double bass section with a nice thrash tinged riff, before re-arriving into more powerful technical death metal style riffs. One of the more thrash tinged tracks, it manages to be technical too. Another very solid track.
Order Of Chaos starts off with a very thrashy riff, and the general thrash infulence carries throughout the song, with the occasional death metal riff style popping up between times. Another strong song, but slightly repetitive at times, and not the fastest track for that particular trait. One of the tracks that doesn't really stand out all that much.
Giant Of Old is another decent track, starting with some drums that fade in, followed by a slightly monotonous riff. This riff is milked a lot, but luckily the band manages to change in enough for it to remain tolerable. A very nice solo follows with some good, powerful riffing beneath it to support it. The double bass is great in this song, making up for the slightly dull riffing that features early in the song, and later towards the end. Luckily the other riffs here are good, and a guitar solo concludes the song nicely.
Transmutation starts melodically and tends to follow that style throughout, being one of the more melodic songs and one that is generally easier to enjoy some of the others on the record, if you don't like the extremer end of death metal. Generally a pretty good song with a nice solo. The riffs are again thrashy, and overall this song bears some resemblance to Melodic Death Metal, but it manages to be powerful anyway.
Desolation is up next and sounds like classic death metal from the early 90s; at least to a greater extent than the other tracks though. Much more extreme than the previous track and one of the more powerful tracks you'll find towards the end of the album. Slightly repetitive but crushingly powerful with a slightly
Raining Blood style solo towards the end. A strong track, and a highlight in my book.
Anger and Hate is next and I thought of Vader pretty quickly after hearing this, featuring some very nice riffing and it's another great example of the bands technical style. Another aggressive song, with more entertaining riffs. Some very nice riffing occurs during what might as well be the chorus. Another nice solo is featured and it ends smoothly.
Agressor is another thrash styled song, getting underway after a short harmonic filled intro. It keeps to a similar pace until the end, where it changes to a more death metal styled ending. Not the strongest song, and not the best finisher, unfortunately.
Overall this is a very nice listen if you like technical death metal, and if your used to bands such as Vader or Decapitated you may draw some similarities between the riffing and double bass usage. However, certain tracks tend not be all that great, such as
Agressor and
Giant Of Old.
Recommended Tracks;
Lust Of The Flesh
Desolation
Deathreat
Trivia-Lust For Flesh appears on a French death metal compilation CD by VS-WEBZINE, but there happens to be a Desruction style skull on the cover with the almost exact shape. I wonder if they got permission?
