“Ecstatic black metal” seems a bit like an oxymoron. If you were to ask someone to describe black metal in one word, “ecstatic” might not come up very often. In fact, if you were to create a relevant Family Feud category, guessing it would land you a big fat X and a Steve Harvey overreaction.
Yet when you listen to Agriculture’s debut full length, it makes perfect sense that they would describe themselves as such, using the white-hot sonic bombast of black metal as a vehicle for transcendence and jubilation.
Despite black metal’s penchant for misanthropy and depression, the in-the-red maximalism of shredded guitars, machine gun drums, and shrieked vocals are useful agents for other moods. Blackgaze has demonstrated this time and time again, but that’s with plenty elements borrowed from post rock’s monolithic gorgeousness or shoegaze’s ethereal enchantment.
Agriculture on the other hand offers a similar mood, but without as much extracurricular influences. There are moments that stray from traditional black metal, such as the near-bluegrass intro of “The Glory of the Ocean” with its slide guitars, or the hushed, clean-voiced “The Well,” but these are brief detours from the full-volume onslaught of the rest of the disc. 95% of this record could pass for kvlt.
At least could if it weren’t for those damn major scales and preference for melody over dissonance. Take for instance the juxtaposition of “The Well” and “Look, Pt 1.” The first offers a simple melody sung over a quiet clean guitar. The second moves that melody to a tremolo-picked guitar and offers the same lyrics sung in a hellish wail.
It makes for a transcendental listen, and that’s even before you consider the lyrics, most of which center around the drowning of a child. However, this event is framed not only as a tragedy, but also as a moment of spiritual ecstasy where the child embraces the ocean, which is a stand-in at various points for God, death, or an amalgamation of the two entities. The grief of his mother is plainly seen in moments, but it is dwarfed by the bliss of passing from the rigid limitations of life into the unspeakable richness that comes beyond. On this side of paradise though, Agriculture’s sound is transcendent enough that you might think they’ve pulled back the veil.