Labels: 625 Thrash Records – Psychocontrol
Review by: Kunal Nandi
I’m one of those dicks that listens to Napalm Death while carrying a Tate Modern membership card in my wallet, so Agents Of Abhorrence have always neatly filled that void where I need some vicious motherfucking grind while wanting to keep my ‘arty’ hat on. This is something a lot of us didn’t realise we needed until we’d cracked open that DVD case for Discordance Axis’ ‘The Inalienable Dreamless’, and AoA have carried that DIY art-grind torch (for want of a much, much better phrase) nicely since their demise.
A little time away hasn’t reduced the velocity or ferocity, all powered by Max Kohane’s blistering drum work, but Ben Andrews’ ear-scrapingly discordant guitar lines have been stripped back to a much more direct barre-chord approach, turning things into an unexpectedly catchy riff-fest, albeit an apocalyptic one. I’m even digging the new vocalist’s style too, filched as he is from (the now defunct) Roskopp, where his throaty, guttural roar fits in with all the filth.
This has resulted in seventeen 30 to 60-second missives that are so crunchily satisfying that its a strong contender for one of my albums of the year, if anyone cares.