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Breaking News: Canada’s The Agonist Has Disbanded

the agonist, band logos, the agonist band logo

The Facebook Announcement:
Dear friends, it’s time to make a very difficult but necessary announcement.

We have decided that The Agonist as a band, has come to an end. Much deliberation and care has been put into making this decision, and unfortunately, given the circumstances, this is the conclusion that makes the most sense for the band and us as individuals.
There are many factors that led to this decision. It is a mix of personal, financial and industry related issues, but in the end the 5 of us are no longer able to agree on a way forward that would benefit The Agonist business as a whole, while respecting each member’s personal lives and wishes.

We want to express our deepest gratitude to the fans for coming out to the shows, buying our merch, and supporting us over the years. Nothing is more satisfying than connecting with our fellow human beings via the gift of music. It is the number one factor that has always driven us- to make you, the listener, feel something. In the end, we know that we’ve accomplished this together.
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The Agonist Presents “Gates Of Horn And Ivory” Official Video

A few months ago, we lined out some overview on a couple of tracks by The Agonist, when they delivered their digital only single “Disconnect Me” which sonically introduced us to their new lead singer Vicky Psarakis. If you missed that review item, please click THIS LINK so you can be brought up to speed. Now its time to check out the brand new official video for the song “Gates Of Horn and Ivory”.

Logo - The Agonist

The Press Release:
Montreal’s THE AGONIST will release their new album EYE OF PROVIDENCE on February 24 in North America and February 23 in Europe via Century Media Records. EYE OF PROVIDENCE is the follow up to THE AGONIST’s 2012 album PRISONERS and will be the debut of new vocalist Vicky Psarakis. The band has just completed the official video for “Gates of Horns and Ivory.” You can watch it now on the Century Media YouTube channel here:

About The Clip: Guitarist Danny Marino had this to say about the video: “We had a great time shooting the Gates of Horn and Ivory video with our good friend and long time collaborator David Brodsky. It was great to finally have a video where we get to laugh at ourselves as well! If you’ve ever met the band you would know were not always as serious as our music may let on. The title and lyrics of Gates of Horn and Ivory were inspired by the ancient Greek text The Odyssey. It is said that within dreams should you see something enter through gates made of horn you can know it to be true in life. If the gates are ivory that it is a deception, and in life you should not trust whatever you saw come through those gates. It’s a very interesting concept and I adapted it to things I have witnessed in my life. For the video we decided to use the music industry as the setting for the duality of horn (truth) and ivory (deception).”

PiercingMetal Thoughts: I’ll keep this short and sweet but I have to say that I enjoyed this video. At first we see the band dealing with all sorts of fashionable stylists and trying to conduct themselves in a classier sort of manner but slowly are rebelling against the directors and all of the hair and makeup people as well as the choreographers. I found myself chuckling during some of these comedic scenes and will say that I loved how Vicky looked when she was all dolled up. After the rebellion against conformed style happens the band finishes performing the track in a messy warehouse scenario that looked like any dingy rehearsal space that you might have jammed out in if you were in a band. Good stuff and the tune rocks as well but this narrative is purely about the video. Good to see Brodsky and team on point once more as a fan of his work. Be sure to stay tuned for more about The Agonist once we get to some album reviewing. Let me know if you liked the video down below in the comments.

Official Website: https://www.facebook.com/TheAgonistOfficial/

“Disconnect Me” (Single) by The Agonist

Artist: The Agonist
Title: “Disconnect Me” (Single)
Label: Century Media Records
Release Date: 4/29/2014
Genre: Melodic Death Metal
Rating: 4/5

With Arch Enemy hiring singer Alissa White-Gluz into their ranks the guys in The Agonist were placed in a bit of a tricky situation and needed to hire a new singer that would first and foremost be capable of handling their type of material and one who could do so with little difficult so’s not to slow down any momentum in their musical progress. Fortunately, they found singer Vicky Psarakis thanks to a YouTube clip and in a move that mirrored what happened with Journey, the match was one that seemed to be made in heaven. Since its going to take some time to prepare a new full-length album, the band has given us two new tracks which I will give you the once over about. Here we go.
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The Agonist: Live Photos @ B.B. King Blues Club (4/19/2009)

Logo - The Agonist

The Agonist were back in the New York Groove as a part of a tour that featured a headlining The Haunted; That show was discussed in full on THIS LINK. Now please enjoy a gallery of photos captured from their set. Alissa was raging tonight for sure.

the agonist, the agonist concert photos
The Agonist by Ken Pierce (2009)

the agonist, the agonist concert photos
The Agonist by Ken Pierce (2009)

Continue reading The Agonist: Live Photos @ B.B. King Blues Club (4/19/2009)

“Only Once Imagined” by The Agonist

Artist: The Agonist
Title: “Only Once Imagined”
Label: Century Media Records
Release Date: 8/20/2007
Genre: Melodic Metalcore
Rating: 4/5

When the listener first puts on the Century Media Records debut release from Montreal’s The Agonist and realizes that this is yet another Melodic Metalcore band that’s fronted by a beautiful female vocalist they might jump the gun on them and mumble “oh no not again”. It would be a valid thought had the group fallen into the same old, same old mold which they very fortunately do not manage to do on the album. Right off the bat we find the lovely Alissa White-Gluz handling almost a dual personality in terms of her vocal powers all across the recording and at times she is a raging inferno that calls to mind Angela Gossow (Arch Enemy) and Nergal (Behemoth) while at others has one of the most melodic and pleasing clean voices that I have heard in awhile. Hopefully she doesn’t mind the referencing and who could actually complain about being likened to two of the most imposing vocal identities in modern Metal today. These diverse vocals on top of some really aggressive music seems to work out well and the band ends up delivering an intense album that not only makes sure to kick your ass but also aims to make you a little more socially aware as a result. Yes there is some level of political and socio-economic awareness being sung about in the songs and I found it added a little more depth to them as a band.
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