By Jase Walker
I’ve been pushing it a bit with shows this week, five back to back gigs with the final one being at a venue in Amsterdam I’ve not actually been to before. So for Sunday night, I’m about to get my face melted with a bit of black/post metal courtesy of Agriculture and their supports for the evening, Ontaard.
I’ve arrived a bit earlier than the doors as I’m set to have a quick chat with the band to see how the tour is going and as an extra little bonus, I get to see them sound check as well! This little preview is certainly showing off how good they’re sounding and no doubt once the room fills up with tonight’s attendees it’ll be even better!
Ontaard takes the stage and the dull roar of conversation eventually dies down to just murmurs, everyone is ready in anticipation of the show. Their singer’s voice bears a striking resemblance to Eva Spence of Rolo Tomassi although the music behind them leans much closer to blackgaze. Considering this is a far more grassroots venue, the sound system they’re rolling with here sounds pretty impressive, Ontaard sounds great. One song in particular is quite interesting as rather than vocal melodies, it’s closer to an unhinged rant left on a voicemail. They mention they’re from Utrecht too, so this name’s going on my list of Dutch metal bands to keep an eye out for, gotta support that local scene!
As with the likes of Møl and other blackgaze acts, the guitar melodies always seem to carry a sort of melancholic sound and Ontaard works it extremely well. Looking around I realize that the venue is absolutely rammed all the way to the back now, a fantastic turnout for the supports. Ontaard have been a real interesting watch and knowing that there’s bands doing this sort of thing in the Dutch scene is a huge boon to me and it’ll be a guarantee I’ll be seeing them again.
It’s time for the main event, Agriculture, who admittedly are starting with an extended guitar intro that sounds closer to a ragtime guitar jam. It doesn’t take long before the signature tremolo style guitar playing begins and it’s time for the heaviness to hit. It seems there was a bit of a hiccup with the vocal mics but the sound engineers quickly get that remedied by switching the mics over.
It’s the last date of the tour and Agriculture still have so much energy to give to their performance. These have a really interesting folky side to their music that meshes incredibly well with the black metal side of things, along the same odd lines that the likes of Solstafir also treads. Just as I’d hoped from the sound check, Agriculture sound absolutely fantastic and now with an entire venue rammed with people that are fully into the show, this is an ideal way to wrap up a crazy busy gig week.
It’s not all blastbeats and screaming though, a change in pace to a more subtle single guitar and vocals song that really shows the more folky side of Agriculture. Also did I say they just fantastic? Sorry, I meant absolutely fucking monstrous. A show like this is a proper rare treat because you know that bands that put on performances like this definitely won’t be doing a venue this size when they return again. Agriculture even makes time in their set for various solos from drums to guitar as nice little breather segments in-between all the blastbeats.
To experience a band doing this sort of thing and sounding as good as they do in a venue like OCCII really adds to the intensity of the experience too. There’s not a single person in this room that’s not fully invested in the show and you can tell the band are feeding off that as well and having a fantastic time performing. The touring exhaustion can wait for a short while yet, it’s almost over but Agriculture have so much left to give that it’s a staggering show of endurance. A set that has built up to a tremendous peak, absolutely brilliant to watch and loved every second of it.
Safe travels home folks, I’ll be there again when you come back!
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