Artist Profile
The Agonist
Country of origin: Canada
Genres: Melodic death metal, metalcore
Years active: 2004-current
Current members: Danny Marino (guitars), Chris Kells (bass, backing vocals), Simon McKay (drums, percussion), Pascal Jobin (guitars), Vicky Psarakis (lead vocals)
Number of albums: 4
Number of concerts attended: 3
Notable cameos on artist’s records: None
The Agonist is a band I discovered in 2010 when they came along with Epica on tour. What struck me in particular was the fact that their female vocalist was able to mix harsh vocals with clean vocals where many women in this genre usually only do one or the other. They are and up and coming band whose notoreity comes mostly from touring with higher profile bands but they gained some more listenership when the singer for the first three albums was selected to become the new singer in Arch Enemy.
In 2007, Once Only Imagined was released. This is probably their weakest album in my opinion. The album is almost exclusively metalcore and does not have the same bite their future albums do, but the album does establish the band as a legitimate mark in the scene.
2009 ushered in a strong performance with Lullabies for the Dormant Mind. The genre is much more dynamic but consistently remains within the melodic death metal genre. There are much more clean vocals in the album and the instrumentation is far more technical than the previous album.
Prisoners was released in 2012 and charted on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart at #19. The albvum conitnues the trend of bridging more clean vocals as well as some progressive elements. The songwriting is top notch in my opinion on this album as the song structure tends to be less predictable than their previous albums.
In 2014, Alissa White-Gluz left the band to become the new singer of Arch Enemy and Vicky Psarakis was brought in as the new singer. She continued to deliver a mix of clean and harsh vocals and the singing continued to incorporate more clean vocals than the previous three albums. Eye of Providence, the 2015 album, charted #17 on the Billboard Heatseekers Chart and launched five singles in support of the album.
In November, The Agonist will be here with Epica, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Arkona. I will definitely provide a full report when that time comes. Next week we look at the new Black Crown Initiate album. I am so fucking stoked!
Join me next time!
-Ryan