By: Benjamin
Gomes
Album Type: EP
Date Released: 24/01/2020
Label: Trepanation Recordings |
Surviving
Sounds
“Silence” CS//CD//DD track listing:
1).
Radio Silence
2).
Muzzle & Mask
3).
Abandonment
The Review:
Taking
their name from one of the most important movies in Werner Herzog’s
filmography, Agvirre are a post-black
metal collective from Manchester
Despite
the short time span of the piece, clocking in at around 27 minutes, the band
showcases a unique blend of black metal, incorporating experimental passages
and an interesting song writing approach that infuses the tremolo picking we
know well with violin melodies soaring over the songs that brings a more
emotional vibe to their compositions.
This
is bolstered further still with a strong
vocal performance, reminiscent of Colin H. van Eeckhout’s of Amenra where every word is shouted with such emotional
urgency that it accentuates the compositions beautifully. Lyrically, the whole album is cantered
around the idea of one using a mask to cover their true self, dealing with hard
things like loss and pain under a guise which only contributes to having a more
difficult time dealing with that.
In
the ending part of ‘Abandonment’,
the third and last track of the EP, Agvirre
switch to cleaner vocals and deliver a final uplifting message that works
as a summary of the whole message they were trying to convey, a final message
to the band that will serve as the final message of this review “Take off the mask that squalors you / Take
off the mask that squanders you / Your true voice lies beneath / Your true self
lies beneath / Take off the mask that silences you”.
“Silence” is available HERE
