While I can’t condone the AI slop gracing the cover of Agarwaen’s latest and third album, the crazed look and scarred five-head of the Pennywise-wannabe does work towards getting across the point these purveyors of “asylum metal” are trying to make. Formed 20 years ago in city of Kouvola, located in the interior of southeastern Finland, the band’s mandate from the start was to present a musical manifestation of psychiatric hospital horrors and blood-soaked thriller flicks. To wit, their live show makes liberal use of costumes and props, their image and art teem with slashing both psychological and physical, with their “asylum metal” self-description sounding like spastic blackened Scandinavian folk metal after discovering Carnival in Coal and Mr. Bungle. Today, we invite you to take the padlocks off the loony bin for an hour or so and spin a stream of the band’s latest message from the Level Three Lockdown, The Murder Trend. The album is set for release on July 3rd via Over the Border Records and was mastered by the Grammy–winning, Svante Forsbäck and produced by Emma Award winner, Teemu Aalto.
Says the band about their newest work: “The Murder Trend is a full-scale concept album that descends into abuse, trauma, revenge and inherited madness. Told as a chronological horror narrative, the album follows Anton, a boy broken by systemic cruelty, whose life spirals from neglect and violence into ritualized murder in a circus set and cult indoctrination. What begins as social tragedy evolves into something far more grotesque: a generational curse embodied through masks and a carnival of death. Musically, the album moves between cinematic instrumentals, relentless extreme metal, crazy combinations of different styles, and theatrical passages that underline the story’s psychological collapse. It’s groovy, it’s progressive, violent as hell and yet brings a twisted smile on your face when you listen to it. Lyrically uncompromising and narratively explicit, The Murder Trend presents a bleak reflection on how victims can become monsters—and how in the modern world violent trends can spread like a contagion once given a symbol to wear.”
Photos by Rocktografia.
Bandcamp
Over the Border Records
The post Album Premiere: Crazy Does it With Agarwaen’s <em>The Murder Trend</em> appeared first on Decibel Magazine.
