Was rather cool on Agrimonia’s last album, but with ‘Awaken’ they’ve hit something of a sweet spot. The gnarled root of it is the same – huge, ambitious, melodic, metallic crust that owes more than a slight debt to Neurosis – but while many other acts have worn this model through to the point of exasperation, Agrimonia manage to conjure something that’s ‘epic’ in the very best sense of the word. Part of this is down to the skill with which the instruments are wielded and the care given to the songs, but where Agrimonia soar beyond so many of their competently mediocre peers is in throwing caution to the wind and crafting melodies, moods and progressions that are so outrageously pompous that they teeter on the edge of ridiculousness. Absolutely no restraint seems to have been given to the giddy rock god guitar lines or the bravura riff-outs, and while you might object to being worked in the same way you are when your eyes mist up during a bad film, there’s something hugely satisfying here that transcends the mere prodding of mawkish emotional nerve centres. The results are all-consuming and curiously joyous: a strange and ultimately splendid achievement for a band working in a genre that often seems oversaturated to the point of absolute meaninglessness.
