Fuck Norway. The Czech Republic is the place for new black metal. They've been running as long as their Scandinavian counterparts, but the Czech hordes have always been too raw, sick, and over-the-top to get commercially whored-out. Even their rank-and-file bands shit on the best of most other nations' scenes. Agmen is one of the newer Czech bands, featuring one of Maniac Butcher's former members (early skinpounder Michal), and even though they're average to pretty good compared to others from their homeland (Root, Master's Hammer, Maniac Butcher, Inferno), they shit on most everything out of a certain northern peninsula from the past five or so years. It's hard to say exactly why, because when you look at the general sound, guitar riffing, drumming style, etc., it seems pretty Norse. Still, there's this blaze of intensity and sincerity there that makes this stuff sound ferocious. The drumming is just a bit more relentless. The guitars aren't content to just saw away at shifting chords--fast little single-note fills and riffs abound. And the vocals. . . What do they eat over there that gives Czech black metal vocalists such a rabid, caustic edge? This vocalist sounds a bit towards the death metal end of the range, but with a vile edge to it and some real power. Highly recommended.

© 2003 lord vic