The Darkest Red

I was 17 when this album released and frequented Hot Topic a lot. Of course I heard the single "Prey" and of course I thought it was amazing at the time. I didn't listen to much metalcore, but I felt like this was a more "badass" version of metalcore that bordered on death metal, or what I thought was death metal at the time. Since then I have always had a soft spot for this record. I throw it on from time to time because I do feel like it's pretty heavy, even for metalcore. I kind of turn my brain off and enjoy the outstanding vocals and the heavy breakdowns. Maybe it's just nostalgia feeding this review, but I honestly think this is one of the better metalcore albums I have heard. It's not a masterpiece and definitely overstays its welcome, although I can't shake how heavy it can be at times. For the record, this is the only album I have heard by these guys.

I'm trying to put myself in the mid-aughts mindset where the lack of solos and heavy breakdowns were king in the metalcore world. I never listened to much metalcore, so I'm not sure if most albums disregarded solos, but I am kind of shocked there aren't any on here. There is only one time throughout this entire album where the lead guitarist does something different with his guitar, and that's on "Scapegoat". He just strums at a little higher pitch over and over, and that's it. I'm not going to constitute that as a solo. Also, that brings me to the bass. There are only two instances of the bass being barely listenable. Those two songs are "Screams Turn to Silence" and "Prey". Believe me, both times are not special and it's just the cliche sound of random bass being played. Unfortunately, most tracks on here would benefit from something breaking up the song besides the heavy breakdowns. Thankfully the songs are on the shorter side or else this would be a fucking chore to get through.

I'm sure these guys are talented individuals, but the only thing that stands out for me here are the insane vocals and how heavy the guitars feel. I absolutely love the sound of Michael Williams' voice. It's perfect for metalcore and goes through a huge range of highs, lows, and clean vocals. He is probably the reason why I enjoy this album as much as I do. The other thing I really like are the breakdowns. Call me old fashioned, but I grew up listening to breakdowns and appreciating them. There are plenty of times on this record where I just wanted to sit and head bang, knowing that's the only time the song will deviate from the chorus and regular verses.

With all that being said, this albums gets very formulaic after a while. The novelty of the great singing and heavy guitars wears off before the first half. You can tell the song writing isn't too strong because every song follows the exact same setup: verse 1, chorus, verse 2, chorus, chorus 2 (repeat 3x), chorus, chorus. I don't want to say I don't mind it, but I kind of knew what to expect on here. I understand their style is simple. The songs may follow the same formula, but I enjoyed the way it sounded if that makes any sense. I liked hearing Williams' clean vocals and the different breakdown variations.

As much as I bashed this record, I still don't mind playing this in the background. Maybe I just have my nostalgia goggles on, but I do find this record very heavy for metalcore. The lyrics are bland, there are no guitar solos or bass that can be pointed out and the songs can be formulaic. On the plus side, the vocals are phenomenal and the breakdowns are there. I would say you definitely have to be in the mood to turn your brain off and just do something else while listening to this. I'm sure it's not Agony Scene's strongest album, but "Prey" is a really good fucking song.

Recs: "Darkest Red", "Screams Turn to Silence", and "Prey"

After I bought The Agony Scene's self-titled album, I was hooked. The combination of black metal vocals, melodic death guitars, and dark atmospheres was perfect. Then when I heard they were recording a new album, I couldn't wait... that was until I heard the new song. It seems the band has taken an entirely different direction in the music, and Roadrunner can't be blamed for it. What we have here is pretty generic metalcore: hardcore-style power chord progressions, middle-ranged harsh vocals, clean singing, and a general lack of depth. In a complete 180 from the last album, there are no leads thanks to the new guitarist is isn't really the best out there. Mike William's high is pretty much gone, as is his low. Instead he uses the beforementioned middle range, alternating between middle, middle-high and middle-low. It's good to see Mike trying out new ranges, except that they sound derrivative and overly-restrained (harsh vocals sound like Bleeding Through while the clean vocals remind me of Coheed and Cambria). Many of us will remember Mike's awesome clean singing on Paint It Black; the problem is that it is now annoying and overused rather than creepy. I knew something wasn't right when I heard the new guitarist couldn't play Paint It Black during a concert, and also when the band's page mentioned "new wave of American heavy metal". If you're a fan of the self-titled, you will most likely be sorely dissapointed in this album. But if you like metallic hardcore, you'll love it.

The Agony Scene stunned the metal and hardcore scenes in 2003 when they released their self-titled debut, offering a compelling Euro-melodic death influenced album with hardcore tendencies, such as breakdowns. This new release (their first on metal giant Roadrunner Records) takes a new direction. It is, as one would expect, very commercially-driven. There is one song, "My Dark Desire", which is mostly singing, but it's pretty damn catchy (mission accomplished!). Compared to their debut, this album is much louder, due to the sleek production, which does affect the vocals; they're way too clean. Some may also be dissapointed (as I was) that Michael William's (lead singer) growls have been replaced with hardcore shouting, and the metalcore standard: clean singing. The singing goes great in some places, and is quite catchy, but at times simply doesn't fit and it can get pretty annoying and nu-metallish (what else would you expect from a roadrunner band?). The instruments are pretty good and at times can be pummeling, as on "Suffer", with an opening double bass drum beatdown. This album has some good tracks : Sacrifice, The Darkest Red, Suffer, My dark Desire, Prey. Overall, this is a way above average metalcore album, if you go into it not expecting the same old Agony Scene. I completely hated it first, so give it a few spins, and it will grow on you. Despite all, I'd say it still can't hold up to the self-titled.

The Agony Scene has cast their vote, and in this case at least, the answer is a loud and resonant "yes!"

I used to like The Agony Scene quite a bit back in the day. They sounded different from the most of those typically bleh whatevercore bands in that the s/t had more metal in it and was actually fun to listen to. I had high hopes for their next full length because the s/t showed a group that had a lot of room to grow for sure, but a lot of potential as well. Optimist that I am, I didn't let a couple line-up changes or even the fact that they had signed with Roadrunner deter my confidence in those boys.

Well, I've given this release a couple listens now, and here's what I have to say. The vocals sound like crap. Mike's At the Gates-esque shrieks make their presence felt but have been watered down by a horrid vocal production job and his not bad-sounding growl is nowhere to be found, the reason for which I don't understand. The alternation of high shrieks and low growls is formulaic enough, but I'd take that over a formula that's even more gimmicky, which is exactly what's happened here with vox you'd expect from the usual Roadrunner band: those overdone nu metal clean singing choruses that all sound alike and standard fare harsh vox mixed with overproduced clean singing that're even more atypical. The only good thing about the vocals on this release is that Mike isn't a whiney pussy like so many of his labelmates and despite having apparently allowed his balls to be chopped off by the producer still retains some of his former glory.

Whereas the song structure on the s/t was fairly varied, here we find a reliance on contrived verse and chorus structures. For the most part, the riffage isn't as catchy by a longshot and the drumming is more or less solid but far from impressive. Oh well, at least you can hear the bass this time. All the songs on here, following the grand hardcore tradition, are fairly short, but that's probably a good thing because that's about as long as they'll be able to keep you from hitting the skip button. Maybe those line-up changes weren't so great, as these days The Agony Scene could pass for your average run-of-the-mill nu metal band now, complete with all the stereotypes those groups are known for.

Let's take a quick look at what this disk has to offer. We start with a little opening track. I hate boring filler like this, especially when it's so blatantly unnecessary. Skip it and move onto the title track, "The Darkest Red," which starts out well enough with a little drumbeat. Mike going from clean to harsh vox on the verses creates a cool effect, but the very presence of the verse, chorus, verse, chorus structure is an exercise in unoriginality. Not a bad track, but a bad sign for following tracks.

"Scars of Your Disease" is next and more of the same. The vocal production rapes the vox in general in my opinion, but the low-end harsh vox sound particularly terrible. Then comes "Screams Turn to Silence," the first song with a stereotypical singing chorus. Minus five billion points; the song that follows is "Sacrifice," which is unremarkable, merely another rather nondescript tune. At least the chorus isn't as painful as the previous one.

Now we come to "Prey," which I believe is the single (or at least the one they're doing a video for). The singing chorus sounds just like the last one, switch them and no one'd know the difference. Bleh. So far none of these riffs have been catchy and they all sound similar in a bad way.

"Procession" continues the mediocrity with plenty of unnecessary clean vox for the majority of the song. I like the sound of Mike's voice, but this is getting annoying. Then comes "Suffer," and it resembles everything before it, except the latter half of the song is composed of scratchy noise, which I suppose is supposed to be atmospheric, but the only thing subliminal about it is the way it'll make you reflexively reach for the skip button. These two songs manage to hit a new low.

"My Dark Desire." If I had to pick a favorite, this one'd be it. More of the same, but it's actually pretty catchy, and so is "Scapegoat," which is a nice change for the rest. These two tracks are the high point of the disk in my opinion. The last track, "Forever Abandoned" starts out great but other than that, it's a rather anticlimatic finish to the disk. Well, maybe not, since the entire disk is more like one thirty-seven minute anti-climax.

No one listens to the lyrics, but in case you're wondering, they're pretty much the same sort of material that can be found on the s/t. They definitely aren't bad in comparison to some of the lyrical travesties that somehow get set to music, but can sound terribly trite, contrived, and repetitive, which pretty much sums up the entire CD, come to think of it.

The bottom line is, there's really no reason to listen to this as opposed to one of the dozens of other bands that sound similar. If you're really into mediocre music like this, you might like this release. Otherwise, I'd advise you to move along, as there's nothing to see here. The only reason this disk gets a 40% is because there's a lot worse out there.

In conclusion: the self-titled was two times better, at least in this reviewer's opinion.