The Agonist - Eye Of Providence

This album is a real mixed bag for post-Alissa The agonist. The loss of that particular vocalist is evident, but it's not exactly scarred the band's future either, as songs like "Gates of Horn and Ivory" and "Disconnect Me" prove. There are some songs with great ideas here but which also seem too rushed ("Perpetual Notion", "Architects Hallucinate") and songs with really weak musicianship but are obviously and confidently written for the masses ("My Witness, Your Victim", "Danse Macabre"). My rating suggests otherwise, but overall I think this new album to be slightly above average-but only just. It's like half of the album I can really get stuck into at the best of times, and the other half I just can't get around because of the obvious flaws.

Also, Vicky's vocal delivery is pretty shaky here. On some songs she can really let herself go and prove impressive, and on others her range is piss poor.

I don't care for this album. I began to write up a thorough explanation for why, but it can simply be summed up into a couple of sentences tops:

Losing Alissa is 100% to blame for this, for multiple reasons. Put boldly and simply, Vicky is a step back for the band. She lacks the ability to comfortably sing at various pitches, most noticeably in her clean vocals at high pitches. She sounds like she's shreaking, if not in pain, with no possibility for a vibrato, which was one of Alissa's displays of talent (see final chorus and outro of Martyr Art for perfect example). All of that on top of the fact that she's incapable of adding depth through meaningful backing tracks, and it's just boring with no stand out tracks where you say "Oh, that sounded great!". I struggled to find any of the songs palletable on the first, second, or third listen. I still can't listen to one track that stood out as remarkable.

Also, it's apparent in this transition the importance of Alissa as a songwriter, with a very noticeable negative impact it had in the songs on this album. These songs are very one-dimensional with very little build-up or progression in the tracks. The majority of songs in their previous works would have highs and lows, various time changes, and a genuine sense of anticipation. Even when they'd start off bombastic and over the top (see the first tracks to the last two albums), there were still high and low points, even if brief, it was in no way predictable, and by the time the song ended, your hair was blown back by intrigue and interest to keep listening. In this album, it's almost as though I can predict the second half of the song before even hearing it, as it's very much the same song the entire way through. I struggled for the first couple of listens to make it past the third track. It could not hold my interest.

Don't even get me started on Vicky's stage presence in the music videos. She visually looks the same when she's singing clean versus harsh vocals. I don't expect to hear stories of her cracking her ribs due to her over-the-top energy when performing live.

Okay, so maybe that was still a little long winded. I contribute that to how disappointed I am by this album. I really enjoyed the last two albums, even the first was nice, but this is just a tall cup of "Meh..."

This is probably the first album I enjoy from this band. Never really liked Alissa, but I sure as hell like Vicky. Way to go!

First time listening to this (and this band actually) and I can say I like it, reminds me of Arch Enemy, all in all some cool riffs going on and digging the vocals.

It's grrrrrrrrrrrreat! as Tony would say