One of the weakest songs I've ever heard this band release. "The Chain" at least tried something different, but this is just not good. It lacks the experimental craziness of Lullabies For The Dormant Mind or the smooth songwriting of Prisoners, or even the punchy grooves of Eye of Providence. It's just the blandest of the bland in terms of generic radio singles. The pathetic guitar tone, half-assed singing and harshes that scream "B-grade metalcore", and poor production just makes the entire thing feel like one of those forgotten 2006 metalcore singles. And this is coming from a diehard fan of the band who often defends them to the death. The only positive thing I can say is that the soft vocals were actually pretty nicely done.

Second weak single in a row, I'm really worried for this album. Not looking good.

Written by Overrwatcher on 13.08.2016 at 12:10

One of the weakest songs I've ever heard this band release. "The Chain" at least tried something different, but this is just not good. It lacks the experimental craziness of Lullabies For The Dormant Mind or the smooth songwriting of Prisoners, or even the punchy grooves of Eye of Providence. It's just the blandest of the bland in terms of generic radio singles. The pathetic guitar tone, half-assed singing and harshes that scream "B-grade metalcore", and poor production just makes the entire thing feel like one of those forgotten 2006 metalcore singles. And this is coming from a diehard fan of the band who often defends them to the death. The only positive thing I can say is that the soft vocals were actually pretty nicely done.

Second weak single in a row, I'm really worried for this album. Not looking good.

Well... They brought it on themselves when they fired the creative mind behind all their success. I could see this coming from a mile away, and wrote them off the moment Alissa departed (which, at least for me, seemed like a huge step back for her to join Arch Enemy). I haven't been at all impressed with anything The Agonist has put out since.

Written by ScottyM on 13.08.2016 at 21:54

Written by Overrwatcher on 13.08.2016 at 12:10

One of the weakest songs I've ever heard this band release. "The Chain" at least tried something different, but this is just not good. It lacks the experimental craziness of Lullabies For The Dormant Mind or the smooth songwriting of Prisoners, or even the punchy grooves of Eye of Providence. It's just the blandest of the bland in terms of generic radio singles. The pathetic guitar tone, half-assed singing and harshes that scream "B-grade metalcore", and poor production just makes the entire thing feel like one of those forgotten 2006 metalcore singles. And this is coming from a diehard fan of the band who often defends them to the death. The only positive thing I can say is that the soft vocals were actually pretty nicely done.

Second weak single in a row, I'm really worried for this album. Not looking good.

Well... They brought it on themselves when they fired the creative mind behind all their success. I could see this coming from a mile away, and wrote them off the moment Alissa departed (which, at least for me, seemed like a huge step back for her to join Arch Enemy). I haven't been at all impressed with anything The Agonist has put out since.

Completely agreed. It was made clear many times that Danny wrote the riffs but Alissa wrote the actual songs. Which is why when Alissa was fired, you could still hear some amazing riffs ("My Witness, Your Victim" especially coming to mind) but the actual song structures were boring and generic. "Okay, here's the chorus, and then a verse, and another chorus, and then another verse, followed by a solo bridge. And then a chorus to wrap it up." Alissa brought a dynamic side to the band that was willing to put out songs like "...and Their Eulogies Sang Me to Sleep" and "Revenge of the Dadaists", and Danny would just make the riffs within the song. Sure, "Eulogies" may not be a very clean or tight song, but your average mainstream band wouldn't come close to trying something like this. If it wasn't already covered as well as it is, I would have written a big post about Alissa being the creative force of The Agonist and how her firing was a shot in the foot for the band.

And Alissa is definitely a poor fit for Arch Enemy. She's my all-time favorite vocalist but her strength comes from her versatility. She's no Travis Ryan, and she's no Floor Jansen, but you're never going to hear Travis break out into powerful cleans (that aren't tunnel throat) or Floor let out a pig squeal. Alissa wrote The Agonist's songs to avoid overly tiring one sound, but in Arch Enemy she's not much of a songwriter. She's stuck in this semi-Angela sound with zero variation, so her vocals get grating by the end. Only Chris Ammott would take a talented clean vocalist and give her literally only one semi-clean line in a non-single intended to be forgotten, and that song ended up being literally one of the best on the album. Arch Enemy is in my favorite bands simply because they were one of two big intro bands for me (other being In Flames), but it pisses me off thinking about how godlike their current lineup is and how little they actually have done with it.

Written by Overrwatcher on 14.08.2016 at 08:04

Written by ScottyM on 13.08.2016 at 21:54

Written by Overrwatcher on 13.08.2016 at 12:10

One of the weakest songs I've ever heard this band release. "The Chain" at least tried something different, but this is just not good. It lacks the experimental craziness of Lullabies For The Dormant Mind or the smooth songwriting of Prisoners, or even the punchy grooves of Eye of Providence. It's just the blandest of the bland in terms of generic radio singles. The pathetic guitar tone, half-assed singing and harshes that scream "B-grade metalcore", and poor production just makes the entire thing feel like one of those forgotten 2006 metalcore singles. And this is coming from a diehard fan of the band who often defends them to the death. The only positive thing I can say is that the soft vocals were actually pretty nicely done.

Second weak single in a row, I'm really worried for this album. Not looking good.

Well... They brought it on themselves when they fired the creative mind behind all their success. I could see this coming from a mile away, and wrote them off the moment Alissa departed (which, at least for me, seemed like a huge step back for her to join Arch Enemy). I haven't been at all impressed with anything The Agonist has put out since.

Completely agreed. It was made clear many times that Danny wrote the riffs but Alissa wrote the actual songs. Which is why when Alissa was fired, you could still hear some amazing riffs ("My Witness, Your Victim" especially coming to mind) but the actual song structures were boring and generic. "Okay, here's the chorus, and then a verse, and another chorus, and then another verse, followed by a solo bridge. And then a chorus to wrap it up." Alissa brought a dynamic side to the band that was willing to put out songs like "...and Their Eulogies Sang Me to Sleep" and "Revenge of the Dadaists", and Danny would just make the riffs within the song. Sure, "Eulogies" may not be a very clean or tight song, but your average mainstream band wouldn't come close to trying something like this. If it wasn't already covered as well as it is, I would have written a big post about Alissa being the creative force of The Agonist and how her firing was a shot in the foot for the band.

And Alissa is definitely a poor fit for Arch Enemy. She's my all-time favorite vocalist but her strength comes from her versatility. She's no Travis Ryan, and she's no Floor Jansen, but you're never going to hear Travis break out into powerful cleans (that aren't tunnel throat) or Floor let out a pig squeal. Alissa wrote The Agonist's songs to avoid overly tiring one sound, but in Arch Enemy she's not much of a songwriter. She's stuck in this semi-Angela sound with zero variation, so her vocals get grating by the end. Only Chris Ammott would take a talented clean vocalist and give her literally only one semi-clean line in a non-single intended to be forgotten, and that song ended up being literally one of the best on the album. Arch Enemy is in my favorite bands simply because they were one of two big intro bands for me (other being In Flames), but it pisses me off thinking about how godlike their current lineup is and how little they actually have done with it.

well thats exactly right its like they messed up 2 bands and nobody is doing what they were supposed to do and nobody is doing what they are good at anymore Alissa doesnt have clean vocals any more Michael Amott plays the worst solos ever and now with Jeff Loomis in Arch Enemy god knows whats gonna happen next i think the both bands which were really great have moved backward hope a least they try to change things up and be less commercial specially Arch Enemy

Http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/the-agonist-audio-samples-of-entire-five-album/