The Agonist - Eye Of Providence

Published March 04 2015

*=Staff's pick	Gates Of Horn And Ivory My Witness, Your Victim* Danse Macabre* I Endeavor Faceless Messenger* Perpetual Notion A Necessary Evil Architects Hallucinate Disconnect Me The Perfect Embodiment A Gentle Disease Follow The Crossed Line* As Above, So Below

Genre	Melodic Death Metal	Vicky Psarakis	Vocals
Tracks	13	Danny Marino	Guitar
Running time	59 Min.	Pascal Jobin	Guitar
Label	Century Media	Chris Kells	Bass
Release	23 February 2015	Simon McKay	Drums
Country	Canada	-	Keyboard
Producer	Christian Donaldson
Similar artists	---

Canadian The Agonist flew in on my radar with Lullabies For The Dormant Mind and fascinated with their eclectic take on melodic death metal. With a killer singer in Alissa White-Gluz whose vocal capacity and versatility coupled with stellar songwriting ability the band seemed destined to a forefront position in this overcrowded subgenre. With Prisoners the band stayed true to form before the beckoning call from labelmates Arch Enemy became too strong for Alissa White-Gluz and she and the rest of the band parted ways.

So, new singer in place in the form of Vicky Psarakis who really had some hefty shoes to fill. The Agonist's music demands far more versatility than that of Arch Enemy. Therefore it's very pleasing to hear Psarakis impress with a basically flawless delivery.

The opening quartet of songs are very strong - you'll find both speed as well as solidly heavy grooves a plenty. Basically I enjoy listening to the whole record from start to finish because of the solid feel of the band doing everything right. The Agonist know what they want to do, and have the skills to do it both as a band as well as allowing members to shine a bit extra.

The production is fine. I especially appreciates that the band allows the bass to come trough and arrive at a nice position in the mix. The drums are, perhaps, a bit too dry for me to go completely bezerk, but the playing from McKay certainly doesn't disappoint. The guitars are nice and fleshy with nice leadwork from Marino and Jobin.

The overall impression for me is that The Agonist is a band have enough talent to hammer out solid songs, solid enough by far to keep me interested in the band.

See also review of: Lullabies For The Dormant Mind

Performance	Originality	Production	Vocals	Songwriting
7	3	6	4	7

Summary
8 chalices of 10 - Martin