Review Summary: The Agony Scene really deliver on "The Darkest Red"
The Darkest Red by The Agony Scene is, overall, an ass kicker. The album jumps out at you right after the introduction with the first few seconds of hard drumming, and never totally gets out of your face until it's done. The band really takes after their tunes with an almost overwhelming (in a good way) energy, especially their drummer, Brent Masters, and their vocalist, Mike Williams. The guitars and bass are great, but the hard-hitting percussion and shrieking, throat slicing vocals absolutely steal the show. With all these together, The Agony Scene make a near perfect album.
Prelude - The introduction to the CD, it's pretty much like every introduction you've ever heard, but gets a high score because of how well it builds to the second track (I always listen to this intro before listening to the next song). 7/10
The Darkest Red - A great track with a lot of energy, this is a FANTASTIC opener. The vocals are absolutely relentless, the drumming is very technical, and the chorus riff is amazing. Very good song. 9/10
Scars Of Your Disease - A very good track, Scars keeps the energy of The Darkest Red flowing without missing a beat. The vocals sound a bit crunchier that the last song and have a really cool effect. The chorus is a great one, with a slightly slower tempo than the rest of the song which really punctuates the ferocity of the song. The bridge vocals also have a really cool effect that makes them sound absolutely evil. A great song to keep things moving. 8/9
Screams Turn To Silence - The first thing one notices about this song is how much more complicated the intro riff seems than the last two songs. There is a lot of good guitar work on this song, especially on the chorus, where the guitar seems to string the sound out and blend perfectly with the first clean vocals on the record. The clean vocals come as a bit of a shock when first heard, but work very well with the rest of the song. They are very good. In fact, considering what condition Williams's vocals should be in with his screams, they are great. Also, this song has possibly the best lyrics Williams's has ever written for The Agony Scene. Very deep, and have a much more mature vibe than the rest of the album. Well done. 7/10
Sacrifice - Track 5 seems to be on a mission to break the listeners neck after the short beginning intro. It has a very hardcore-ish tempo and seems very forceful. The drumming is intricate, and does well to pronounce to hardcoreiness in the song that much more. It does let up, at almost a minute and a half, where Williams seems to give himself a rest by talking for a few seconds, but then returns with full force for a few more choruses. The ending guitar work is almost the only recognizable melody in the song, and provides the listener with a appropriate ending to a welcome pummeling. Good mosher. 6/10
Prey - Easily the most versatile song on the album, Prey kick-starts with an ode to Masters's great drumming, and the beginning of what seems to be another break-neck ass-kicking, but once the listener gets to the chorus, the story changes. The song's hardcore verses and melodic choruses are seamed together amazingly with the help of the drumming. After listening to the entire chorus, track 6 is clearly recognized as the defining track of the album. It also does a great job of exhibiting Williams's vocal range. In the last fifty seconds, he provides us with some of the most searing screams yet the clearest singing heard on an Agony Scene song yet. The guitarists make great use of the pinch harmonic throughout the verses, and wonderful melody on the choruses. For this song, everything just seems to come together in an amazing way. Perfection. 10/10
Procession - Track 7 has clean choruses and the most clean vocals on the CD, but they aren't used as effectively as they were on Prey. The song doesn't really get your attention, until, surprisingly, the song slows down. The bridge is executed well, and done with only singing, and the double bass really adds to the feel of the song. The ending choruses are really good, and the clean singing in the last chorus that replaces the screaming of the ones before is fairly effective. A good song, but doesn't have a beginning or ending as strong as the bridge. 6/10
Suffer - A good song, but for some reason seems slightly out of place after Procession. The song doesn't really offer any melody, and probably would have fit better at the beginning or ending of the album. And the weird sample at the end of the song doesn't really help it's case, either. Still a good song, however. Great display of the more ear-splitting vocals. Decent, but awkward placement. 6/10
My Dark Desire - The best way to describe My Dark Desire is simply one word: fun. It just is a fun song to listen to. It is the catchiest offering on the CD and a very good listen after Suffer. It really finds it's groove in the first chorus, where the band seem to be just having fun, and they do a wonderful job of getting that through to the listener (this song always improves my mood if I need a pick-me-up). Another great one. 10/10
Scapegoat - A very good song, this has the most 'metal' feel of any song on the record. Very vivid lyrics, and a wonderfully thrashy riff throughout. The instrumental bridge has a very interesting feel, with slow, stretchy guitar parts that go well with the quick double bass, then throw you into an explosion of vocals. Very nice. 8/10
Forever Abandoned - A very fitting ending song to end the record with, Forever Abandoned feels like the band gathered all the energy they had left, and threw it all into this song. It is a fantastic mix of searing vocals, technical drumming, and a great riff filled with melody. The album is perfectly capped off with, in the last few seconds of the song, a sound byte of Williams saying "Alright, that was all the energy I had". Likewise Mike, likewise. Perfect ending to an almost perfect album. 10/10
