Agressor
Deathreat
7.6
While France is currently a surprisingly respected county in the metal scene, its arguable that respected bands like Antaeus, Deathspell Omega, Yyrkoon, Aes Dana, Vorkreist, Kronos and others owe a little of their success to their forebears, bands like Massacra, Mercyless, Loudblast and Agressor.
I actually owned the vinyl version of this band's album, Neverending Destiny back in 1990 (how fucking old am I?), and remember it as a sort of Kreator-ish thrash band, but here 17 years later (though I have not heard any of the band's other albums, so I can’t say when the transition happened) we have a tight, modern death metal band that sounds a lot like Yyrkoon over a decade later. The teacher has become the student? Maybe so.
Gruff but comprehensible vocals layer over chunky but well written and varied death metal that sits confidently astride the technical, brutal and melodic. The tracks cover the expected gamut of paces and moods from high octane number like “Lust of The Flesh”, "Desolation", and “War In Heaven”, and chunky, lumbering tracks like “When Darkness” and even what appears to be an older thrash track given a death metal make over (“Agressor”). Standouts “Warrior Heart” and “Giants of Old” have a dash of melody and trash prose, giving the album enough to make it worth several listens and your time.
While many older bands trying to comeback and ‘fit in’ to today’s scene ultimately sound hackneyed and tired, after a six year layoff, Agressor like a fine French wine, actually sound better than they ever did and have released a solid, solid album of competently and very enjoyable death metal.
Mon Dieu!
