The Agonist is one of those bands that’s impossible to pin down. Below, it indicates that their music is a mix of death metal and metalcore, but there’s also a progressive element to it, as it frequently twists and turns in different and unexpected directions. “The Moment” features a lot of clean vocals, so much so that I think they actually outnumber the death metal vocals this time around, which I found to be a refreshing change. To that end, I’d probably call this song melodic death metal, though the music is definitely int he vein of metalcore during the song’s grinding moments. Come to think of it, you could probably call it grindcore, too. During the verses anyway. The chorus is more like traditional heavy metal, like Black Sabbath on steroids. But that’s enough trying to pin it down. Let’s just say that it’s fierce and it’s awesome and you should definitely be listening to it as you read this.
You might as well check out their other new track while you’re here!
THE AGONIST European Tour:
27.09.2016 – Fryshuset Klubben- Stockholm, Sweden
28.09.2016 – Sticky Fingers – Gothenburg, Sweden
30.09.2016 – Tube – Dusseldorf, Germany
01.10.2016 – Epic Metal Fest – Tilburg, Netherlands
02.10.2016 – De Kreun – Kortrijk, Belgium
04.10.2016 – Opera Concert Hall – St. Petersburg, Russia
05.10.2016 – Клуб Театръ – Moscow, Russia
07.10.2016 – Sala Becool – Barcelona, Spain
08.10.2016 – Sala la Burbuja – Castellon, Spain
09.10.2016 – Sala Maladar – Seville, Spain
11.10.2016 – Sala tbc – Lisboa, Portugal
12.10.2016 – Sala Lemon – Madrid, Spain
13.10.2016 – Sala Azkena – Bilbao, Spain
THE AGONIST W/XANDRIA, Epica and Fleshgod Apocalypse:
11/4: Quebec City, QC @ Imperial Theater
11/5: Montreal, QC @ Corona
11/6: Toronto, ON @ Phoenix Concert Hall
THE AGONIST W/Arkona, Epica and Fleshgod Apocalypse:
11/8: Chicago, IL @ Concord Music Hall
11/9: Minneapolis. MN @ Cabooze
11/11: Saskatoon, SK @ Saskatoon Event Center
11/12: Calgary, AB @ Marquee
11/13: Edmonton, AB @ The Ranch
11/15: Vancouver, BC @ Vogue Theatre
11/16: Seattle, WA @ Studio 7
11/18: San Francisco, CA @ Social Hall
11/19: Los Angeles, CA @ The Regent
11/20: Las Vegas, NV @ Vinyl at Hard Rock Hotel
11/22: Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall
11/23: Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater
11/25: Dallas. TX @ Gas Monkey Live
11/26: Austin, TX @ Empire Control Room
11/28: St. Petersburg, FL @ State Theater
11/29: Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
12/1: Baltimore, MD @ Soundstage
12/2: New York, NY @ Webster Hall
12/3: Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
More on THE AGONIST
THE AGONIST is a Canadian extreme metal band from Montreal, Quebec, formed in 2004. The current line up consists of guitarists Danny Marino and Pascal (Paco) Jobin, bassist Chris Kells, drummer Simon Mckay, and vocalist Vicky Psarakis, who joined in March 2014 following the departure of vocalist and founding member Alissa White-Gluz. Both Psarakis and White-Gluz use growled and clean vocals. To date, THE AGONIST has released four studio albums; the latest, “Eye of Providence”, was released in February 2015. Touring extensively since their first album, they have shared the stage with bands such as Arsonists Get All the Girls, Epica, the Faceless, Chelsea Grin, Kamelot and Visions of Atlantis.
PRESS RELEASE:
THE AGONIST will release their new album and Napalm records debut Five on September 30th. Today the band has dropped the first official video from Five, for the song “The Moment”. Watch it HERE.
Frontwoman Vicky Psarakis spoke about the making of the video:
“The Moment’ was probably the most exciting and demanding video I’ve had to shoot so far. Chris (bassist / FTB Visuals director) came up to me with the idea to create a “storyline” with a close up of just my face singing the lyrics underwater. And we achieved it by building a box with a plexiglas panel that fit my head, while the rest of my body was standing and perfectly dry. I guess you could say it was scary and awkward to have just your head submerged underwater and a bit dangerous to have to perform the entire song in that position, but honestly, I wouldn’t mind doing the whole thing all over again!”
A lyric video for the first song released “The Chain” can be seen
HERE.
Pre-orders for Five, in various formats and exclusive bundle packages are available now at The Napalm Records Webstore.
Five was produced by Mike Plotnikoff at West Valley Studios. Mike has engineered and produced such artists as Buckcherry, Flyleaf, My Chemical Romance, Apocalyptica, P.O.D, Halestorm, Skillet, Seether, P.O.D. Three Days Grace, Aerosmith, and Kiss
Maor Appelbaum handled the mastering at Maor Appelbaum Mastering studios. Maor has had the pleasure of mastering recordings for major international acts such as: Faith No More, Yes, Starset, Ill Nino, Dokken, Fates Warning, Sepultura, Yngwie Malmsteen, Armored Saint, Lita Ford, Butcher Babies, and more.
Five Track Listing:
- The Moment
- The Chain
- The Anchor And The Sail
- The Game
- The Ocean
- The Hunt
- The Raven Eyes
- The Wak
- The Resurrection
- The Villain
- The Pursuit Of Emptiness
- The Man Who Fell To Earth
- The Trial
- Take Me To Church (Hozier cover) (Bonus Edition Only)
Youtube info:
Pre-order FIVE here: http://smarturl.it/5-NPR
iTunes: http://smarturl.it/5-DL
Out September 30
“The Moment was probably the most exciting and demanding video I had to shoot so far. Chris (bassist / FTB Visuals director) came up to me with the idea to create a “storyline” with a close up of just my face singing the lyrics underwater. And we achieved it by building a box with a plexiglass panel that fit my head, while the rest of my body was standing and perfectly dry. I guess you could say it was scary and awkward to have just your head submerged underwater and a bit dangerous to have to perform the entire song in that position, but honestly, I wouldn’t mind doing the whole thing all over again!”
~ Vicky Psarakis
Montreal Metal – a seal of approval to be reckoned with: the perfect breeding ground for bands looking for a rather menacing wall of sound! Next to Despised Icon, Beneath The Massacre and Cryptopsy THE AGONIST seem to be designed to make it all the way to the top of the extreme metal scene with their fine-tuned mixture of melodic death metal and metalcore. “Five” makes the exceptional position of the Canadian fivepiece even clearer – as well as its goal to escape all things ordinary. Ever since singer Vicky Psarakis joined the group in 2014, THE AGONIST `s knack for touching melodies became much stronger (just give the lascivious ‘The raven eyes’ a whirl), and flirting with alternative rock turned into a habit. Still, there is enough palpable aggression in the air that discharges in technical death metal solos, beastly growls and massive breakdowns. THE AGONIST keep the throne of all things luscious, catchy yet indefinitely brutal!
Produced and mixed by Mike Plotnikoff @ West Valley Studios
Mastered by Maor Appelbaum @ Maor Appelbaum Mastering
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