Agriculture - The Spiritual Sound

Angry Metal Guy

Black metal is rooted in extremity—a core toolkit of visual aesthetics, speed, power and atmosphere that naturally imbues it with an inherent spiritual essence. But that essence often collapses into a monochromatic buzz of tremolo and constant tempos. Los Angeles-based quartet Agriculture challenges this expectation with their second LP, The Spiritual Sound, moving beyond the solely dark and brutal in search of presence and illumination. Coming off their potent self-titled debut—a record that landed on Cherd’s Top 10(ish) records of 2023—and 2024’s Living is Easy EP, The Spiritual Sound is a statement of pure honesty and fearless experimentation. The record shatters typical black metal conventions, throwing out ritualistic fanfare for a vast array of influences including death metal, noise, math rock, folk, country, and punk. Self-dubbed as “ecstatic black metal,” the foursome demands you check all preconceived notions at the door as they reframe extreme in their own unique and expansive way.

While Agriculture hasn’t completely turned their backs on their blackened roots, The Spiritual Sound uses them as a launchpad to branch out into realms occupied by groups like Liturgy and labelmates Chat Pile. The frenzied, tremolotic dissonance of guitarists Dan Meyer and Richard Chowenhill still power tracks like “Serenity,” “Flea,” and “Micah (5.15am),” underpinning Leah Levinson’s manic vocals and Kern Haug’s unhinged drumming. Now, however, this approach serves as a stepping stone to more expansive horizons, as Agriculture’s originality has fully blossomed. The record’s forty-four minutes are a playful, unpredictable and complex patchwork of styles: math rock chaos (“My Garden”), sludgy down-picked riffs (“The Weight”), soothing Slowdivey shoegaze harmonies (“Flea,” “Dan’s Love Song”), punky gallops (“Micah (5.15am))” and delicate, folky passages (“The Reply,” “Hallelujah”). This diverse blend transmits an authentic ethos centered on camaraderie, collective struggle, and catharsis, grounded in themes from queer history and AIDS-era literature to historical collapse and Zen Buddhism. As unconventional as it might be, The Spiritual Sound’s mission is a clear success: to craft unique, empowering music that fosters community without pretense.

The Spiritual Sound by Agriculture

Agriculture’s experimentation largely shines through Meyer and Chowenhill’s impressive and inventive shredding. The duo injects The Spiritual Sound with tons of flashy guitar work through a hodgepodge of bends, squeals, trills, and high-pitched pick taps around more conventional bouts of thrashy riffing and smothering tremolos to create a vibrant spectrum of textures. The captivating leads in tracks like “The Weight,” “My Garden” and “Bodhidharma”—the latter of which contains one of the best solos I’ve heard in a long time—take influence from Tom Morello’s (Rage Against the Machine) boundary-pushing designs or Larry LaLonde’s (Primus) accented jams, while “Flea’s” solo elicits the expressiveness of classic rock. Song o’ the Year candidate “My Garden” explodes into a whirling dervish of frantic math fretwork before dropping into one of the most crushing riffs I’ve heard all year. It then transitions into a soothing interlude for a brief moment before bludgeoning you once more with heaviness and rapid-fire high tremolo runs. This constant shift between doom- and groove-laden weight, jarring dissonance, and soothing ethereal passages is what gives The Spiritual Sound its complex structure and feeds its absorbing, often unpredictable journey.

The Spiritual Sound’s novelty is equally defined by Levinson and Meyer’s vocal performances. Levinson shifts between extreme intensity and introspective subtlety, delivering ear-piercing shrieking rasps balanced by softer, more experimental elements like the poetic, spoken word found in “Bodhidharma” or the conversational tone of “Flea.” The strategic use of soothing clean vocals and Meyer’s beautiful harmonies in songs like “The Reply,” “Hallelujah,” or “Dan’s Love Song” also provides essential emotional contrast, amplifying the impact of the record’s heavier tracks and buttressing Agriculture’s originality. The coarse production—courtesy of Chowenhill—is compressed and somewhat lo-fi but allows the quartet’s unbridled sound to rush through the speakers with both raw aggression and clarity.

Agriculture may have stumbled into black metal during their formation, but the genre—and The Spiritual Sound—is all the better for it. Though their ambitious scope results in some unevenness (“Flea” and “Serenity” rely on tropey structures and interlude “The Spiritual Sound” is confusingly split into its own track), Agriculture is unafraid to walk its own path, successfully blending various styles into a great record authentically rooted in the power, community and pure enjoyment of extreme music. Black metal purists should look elsewhere—however, those who approach The Spiritual Sound without pretense will find a unique, genre-defying experience that only gets better with every play.

Rating: Great!
DR: 6 | Format Reviewed: 320 kb/s mp3
Label: The Flenser
Websites: agriculturemusic.bandcamp.com/music | agriculturemusic.com | facebook.com/agriculturemusic
Releases Worldwide: October 3rd, 2025

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The Guardian 0

(The Flenser)
The LA group’s second album pairs all the power and euphoria of heavy music with imaginative detailing and poignant lyrics – it will have you levitating with joy