The Agonist
Prisoners
Rating
Style: (Black)-Metal/core/gothic
Release date: 4 June, l2012
Playing time: 56:25
 

Earlier albums missed some well arranged and structured songs, but on this new album the Canadians deliver. The songs sound more natural and less artificial. After each spin the band impresses me more and more. The rather original combination of gothic, metal core, melodic black metal and old-school metal has something else to offer.

The first track starts and you hear the Cradle of Filth influences, but halfway thru the clean female vocals start and the band sounds more like an Within Temptation/Evanescence kind of band. The member that impresses me the most is the female singer Alissa White-Gluz. Not only does she have an impressive aggressive harsh/grunting singing style, but her clean vocals are very good too. Combining the both of them will not always be possible on stage perhaps, but on the album it works. "Predator and Prayer" starts with a child choir and sounds like an old school metal track. Also the combination of the aggressive singing with the child choir in the background makes this track special. Because of the metal core influences there are also musical similarities with Walls of Jericho.

But in the end, you can't compare the band's music with any band because they mix it in a very original way without losing the grip on the songs. Combining several influences makes them a recognizable band with an own sound, which cannot be said about a lot of bands nowadays.

If you want some variety and are not too narrow minded, I think you will have lots of fun with this album. Melodic old-school metal-black-gothic- core or something like that is what you can expect.


Tracklist

01. You're Coming With Me
02. The Escape
03.
Predator and Prayer
04. Anxious Darwininians
05. Panophobia
06. Ideomotor
07. Lonely Solipsist
08. Dead Ocean
09. The Mass of the Earth
10. Everybody Wants You "Dead"
11. Revenge of the Dadaists

Label: Century Media
Distribution: EMI (Denmark)
Reviewed by: Reinier de Vries
Date: 6 June, 2012
Website: www.myspace.com/theagonist