Agnes Vein – Deathcall
Release Date: 17th December 2021
Label: Venerate Industries
Bandcamp
Genre: Blackened Doom
FFO: Celtic Frost, Triptykon, Candlemass, Yob.
Review By: Paul Cairney
I really like this album!
There, I’ve said it! Yes, it isn’t perfect, there are a few things that hit a raw nerve, but overall, Deathcall by Greek trio Agnes Vein, is a supremely satisfying slab of blackened Doom that hits home more than it strikes out.
As I type this review, I am listening to the album via a decent, if not professional, set of headphones, and the album is even better than my half a dozen previous listens. Perhaps it is the mix of epic, almost Primordial style clean vocals, or the dirty vocals that lean heavily on the early vocal stylings of fellow Greek, and all-round fucking legend, Sakis Tolis from his equally legendary band Rotting Christ.
In a year where we have had some, and let us not beat about the burning bush, absolutely stellar Doom releases, Agnes Vein have released a Doom album that is slightly different. This difference helps to set it apart from the crowd. It’s Doom, but with a blackened element that lurks in the background. The production is slightly dirtier than the norm, and it may not be to the taste of some, but it suits the music that the band bestow upon us. It leans upon Sludge more than being poor production, and that can only be of benefit to Agnes Vein.
6 songs in length, Deathcall is a compact album, and for the best part, it works. However, there are, as mentioned, a few issues. I don’t know if it is just the digital copy received here, but a few of the tracks have slightly weird timing issues. An example is around 3 minutes and 15 seconds into track 3, Sovereign Star, where it seems that the song has a substantial cut, immediately beginning again at a different point. It just doesn’t work. If it was just the once, I would assume that it was a mistake, but it is utterly jarring and sounds like they have basically just cut-and-paste parts of the song together – Hey, I’m not a musician nor a production guru like our podcasting heroes who would be able to talk about what they did – and so there is probably a more muso way of putting this. But it is very annoying.
But, as I said, I really like Deathcall. It differs from the other Doom records this year, and that should please you as much as it does me.
(4 / 5)
