Review Summary: Eyes are the window to the soul.
Does history guide you or do you set out to change it?
Whether one likes the reality or outright hates it, the battlefield can be a cruel destination for some just as much as it is an arena of victory for most people. This area in particular has the power of putting us victims through various events, obstacles, bloodbaths, you name it. Things can range from merely petty slights to godawful ordeals that I'm incapable of describing in painstaking detail. For Canadian extreme metal band
The Agonist, they've been on this warmonger's garden for awhile now, and have also proved how adept they are at pulling through the good and the somewhat bad. Having debuted with 2007's
Once Only Imagined, these guys received a bit of a rocky start; this freshman album was by no means terrible, and yet the record's flaws (for instance, the instrumentation packed slightly more punches than Alissa White-Gluz' vocals) were quite noticeable. As of this writing, the band has since dished out three following recordings that signified the act's growth.
Lullabies for the Dormant Mind both strayed and sticked to the path that its predecessor took, whilst showcasing eccentric influences pooled from classical, prog, and even flourishes of melodeath later expanded upon during
Prisoners – which was studio offering #3, considered to be the group's magnum opus. With such rip-roaring tunes like “Predator and Prayer,” “Dead Ocean,” and “Mass of the Earth,” it's quite tough not to appreciate the rightfully pretentious swagger this release gives off time and time again.
It is officially the year 2015 and The Agonist look to beat down the giant door once more.
Eye of Providence, the quintet's fourth record so far, was released on February 24th. All the listeners who flocked without hesitation to
Prisoners are quick to ponder whatever strengths or weaknesses this one has, especially when you take into consideration that Agonist leading lady White-Gluz left prior to this album's announcement. She was undoubtedly the driving force behind the Canadians' material, possessing the ability to flawlessly switch between unyielding growls and a gorgeously sadistic singing voice while carrying outspoken views on her back like tattered flags. Alissa's leaving the troupe only to join
Arch Enemy as the band's new frontwoman unsurprisingly led to mixed reception, which in turn made the birds whom eloped with the sun wonder if this move would affect The Agonist's future harshly. However, this shocking revelation notwithstanding, this outfit soldiered on with nary an Alissa White-Gluz in sight, bringing in their current vocalist Vicky Psarakis.
So what can you expect from The Agonist's latest addition to their stunning arsenal? First and foremost, although
Prisoners is often looked at as the five-piece's chef d'ouevre, the bandmates themselves were actually disappointed with the finished product. Believing to have went overboard, they scaled back on that album's more otherworldly characteristics and returned to an accessible direction not dissimilar to the first two outings. Despite TA's newest album resting in a realm not devoid of genericism, it's astonishingly not as mediocre or half-hearted as the majority love to think.
Eye of Providence relies a lot on catchiness and Vicky herself, but the LP isn't just some phoned in attempt at being relatively mainstream-friendly. Stylistically speaking, this is a compromise between
Once Only Imagined and
Lullabies for the Dormant Mind, as the record bears a predominantly modern metalcore sound with the occasional melodeath elements coming back with a small, yet sweet vengeance. Tracks such as “I Endeavor,” “Faceless Messenger,” and “A Necessary Evil” do a really nice job at balancing the band's traditional aspects. These three songs demonstrate that Psarakis isn't afraid to show off her skills consisting of anarchic, deep growls and passionate cleans. The tag team of Danny Marino and Paco Jobin riff away on their guitars with a fair amount of ease and also know how to utilize tasteful melodies like on “My Witness, Your Victim” and lead single “Disconnect Me”.
The technically proficient and easy-to-digest craftsmanship comes with a rather inconsistent price, on the other hand.
EoP's overall songwriting is the butt monkey of musical features here, due in part of this group letting loose via a formulaic nature with no second or third thoughts. A lot of the songs follow a verse-chorus-verse pattern that can and will become mildly tiresome after awhile, and this could be a slap in the face for anybody (including this reviewer) who respected what The Agonist had accomplished on their third combatant. The full-length's opener “Gates of Thorn and Ivory” is a major offender, because though the song itself isn't inherently bad, this number tends to suffer from a case of monotony barely remedied by Vicky's own vocal performance. The woman herself - barring “Danse Macabre” where nearly two minutes in she's enabled a motor mouth passage that doesn't mesh well with the rest of the song – otherwise serves as a totally fine enough replacement for Alissa. General composition in regards to
Eye of Providence is a little lackadaisical compared to the release's two older siblings, but be that as it may, the songsmith work shines whenever appropriate and is not always absent. “A Gentle Disease” is home to one of the best uses of acoustic guitar in recent Agonist memory, and we're serenaded by newcomer Psarakis' cleans throughout a large chunk of the ditty until an atmospheric section lasts for the latter half. The 7-minute (well, to be more accurate, 8-minute) epic “As Above, So Below” closes this album off on a pretty high note, acting as an experimental piece that isn't a stranger to building up suspense. In fact, song #13 marks a sign that Vicky and her cohorts haven't disowned what made the last effort nigh-flawless.
In the main, your opinion of
Eye of Providence will depend on whether you assume the Canadian metal act's last recording was some kind of arrogant fluke or not. The latest album has received lukewarm feelings here not to everyone's astonishment seeing how they thought the talent in The Agonist was gradually slipping away. Although the songwriting level is nowhere near as robust as either
Prisoners or the sophomore offering and certain tracks don't go anywhere (see “Perpetual Notion”) due to padding, the record is allowed to plant its feet into middle ground territory with caution. Vicky Psarakis is a commendable alternative for White-Gluz and it's cool to see that the musicianship remains as tight and emotional as before – if kinda less so, anyhow.
