Medieval Rites

Of all the big four of French death/thrash (the others No Return, Loudblast, Massacra) the band under scrutiny here were the ones who took the fewest liberties with their initial sound. They were also the ones who never ventured into numetal territories, not even with a single note. They were pounding their old school death/thrash (more death than thrash) tunes through the inhospitable 90’s, for those who cared, becoming a less and less frequent presence on the circuit as time went by.

If there ever was a temptation exhibited towards some shift in style that was on the excellent “Symposium of Rebirth”, the predecessor to the album reviewed here, the guys trying something wonderfully melodic and epic with an all-instrumental triptych built around the “Conan the Barbarian” movie blockbuster soundtrack. There’s one such attempt here, titled “Tribal Dance”, but this is more of a dirgy doomster with some operatic tendencies (female vocal support included) than a full-on surrender to the unorthodox and the unpredictable. The rest has been sold to the retro death metal idea almost exclusively, the guys moshing in their familiar way, the title-track attempting something progressive and more flexible to a generally positive effect. Similar flights of the imagination are not to be encountered later, with short pummelling brutalizers (“Bloodshed”, “(I Am the) Spirit Of Evil”) peppering the landscape, leaving less courageous thrashier mid-pacers (“The Sorcerer”) on the sidelines, with bouts of melody (“Burial Desecration”) rising unexpectedly at times, almost as noteworthy as the sparse technical strokes (“Wondering Soul”) which should have been more.

Short acoustic all-instrumental etudes are scattered around, nice touches if too ephemeral to leave a lasting impression, probably the major diversifying ingredient at play here. There’s also a cover, decently performed without too many alterations, of King Diamond’s “Welcome Home” from “Them”, but don’t expect Alec Colin-Tocquaine to falcetto it like a banshee on that one, his rough shouty deathly antics pretty much intact, save for a couple of moments where he seems to receive help on the higher octaves… but definitely not from the King. A routine effort form the Agressors overall, job well done, no major surprises, the aftertaste lurking largely caused by the anticipations that this could be another lofty symposium on another film soundtrack. Not really, the band prefer to justify their moniker first of all, as this is arguably their most brutal recording as well, a non-fussy tribute to the old school that won’t leave a very lasting memory, but should satisfy the rabid headbangers and the emerging classic metal advocates… not quite the medieval ones, though.

“Deathreat” followed a very comparable path, a direct non-fussy barrage with few tricks inserted in-between, if we exclude the violent primal cover of Hellhammer’s “Agressor” at the end. The indulgence in compilations in recent years seems to have diminished the band’s significance on the scene; this reminiscence cycle could be put an end with a new threat… or with another symposium of dark evil medieval deathly tunes.

In 1990, Agressor made history by releasing the first full-length Death Metal album in France, entitled "Neverending Destiny." One listen to that recording and you can hear the influence that it gave to future French bands such as Massacra. They released a few more albums, the last one released in '94, and Agressor was put on hold for awhile. The frontman decided to put Agressor back together in 1998 and this album, "Medieval Rites", was released in 2000.

What we have here is a good slab of Death Metal with a bit of an old school vibe. These guys were definitely listening to their early Morbid Angel recordings while in the studio. The vocals on this album are, simply put, awesome. This guy can go anywhere from a high black metal-esque shriek, to a low bellowing growl, though not quite as low as, say, Antti Boman. (the undefeated champion of growl depth) The guitar tone can sound a little muddy at times,(somewhat similar to the guitar tone on Gorguts - "Obscura") but it usually sounds somewhat reminiscent of the "buzzsaw" production typically coming out of Sweden.

My favorite songs on here would have to be "The Sorcerer", a song that for some unknown reason, reminds me somewhat of Necrophobic ( a welcome addition, seeing how Necrophobic rule) and "I Am The Spirit Of Evil" with it's crushing, thrash-like riffage.

All in all, definitely worth checking out. This album seems to have alot of filler, however, and some of the songs don't flow well with the others, but a solid effort nonetheless.