Every dog has its day. With Agorapocalypse, Agoraphobic Nosebleed have finally made their presence felt with their ear-grabbing, arm ripping and putrefying style of grind which they were till now unable to reciprocate in Altered States of America and Frozen Corpse Stuffed With Dope. I say shit happens listening to their old stuff, cause Scott Hull and Co. have made a such a remarkable turnaround in the album that, Agoraphobic Nosebleed can now be rightfully termed 'an established act' in grindcore.
Forget their older 'fuck me for a dime' kinda styled songs that hardly reaches out to you other than giving you timely doses of programmed blastbeats and cave man styled noise rambling. Agorapocalypse has gone high up in my views of respect by incorporating thrash styled riffs and an additional vocals that lends a new dissonant sound to the album. Even more impressing is the point that the album is overtly simple and yet it crushes you under its sonical weight, over empowering your senses and assaulting you senses out and out under its notes. Scott Hull once again shows his knack for playing killer riffs and all this adds up perfectly with Randall's deranged shrieks while newbie Katz provides unnerving shrieks from a different angle. The vocals match up with each other in such an amazing manner that you cant help but feel agoraphobic listening to the album.
More than all this its the drumming that totally shook me down to the very bottom of my soul. Mind numbing drumbeats that keep on pounding on and on, play an a very effective role in a lending a new sound to the album. But it needs to be noted here that the drums are not programmed to play at lightning fast speeds anymore. Its more layered and less mindless thrashing is approached in Agorapocalypse, giving it more space to breathe. The programmed drumming in the album is smart, with clever breakdowns and blastbeats employed amidst various tempo changes through put the album.Songs are wonderfully structured as the musical elements do not repeat at all.And this is the best litmus test a band can take to prove whether they are playing good music or not. Needless to say the guys in Agoraphobic pass this one with an ace.
Agoraphobic Nosebleed have finally come of their age in this album. Forget the past, start the future with a new beginning seems to be the option they are pursuing at the moment and I totally agree with that after listening to this. And its not just the music that reflects this thought but also the album cover which has cleverly designed to depict a man dying of agoraphobia. Total madness is assured listening to this album. Long Live the new Agoraphobic Nosebleed. Hail grindcore.
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