The Agonist – “Prisoners”

Prisoners is the third release by Montreal’s The Agonist, and again the band offers mellow death metal with the occasional clean vocals. I’ve seen the group occasionally referred to as metalcore due to this approach, but really they’re not. The Agonist writes some crunchy, brutal songs that will have even the most jaded metalhead, fist-pumping along.

The thing that usually annoys me with most bands who use the whole death growl/clean singing on the chorus combo, is that quite frankly, it’s generally annoying and few bands can actually pull it off without sounding completely and utterly stupid. The Agonist however, shines bright as unlike many of singers who do this, Allisa White-Gluz can actually sing! In my opinion, she has one of the best female voices in metal and really sets herself apart from her peers. White-Gluz’s unique and powerful voice, and the fact that the songs actually benefit from the clean/gruff style rather than sounding formulaic, easily set the band apart from the rest of the pack.

Track Listing:

01.You’re Coming With Me
02. The Escape
03. Predator & Prayer
04. Anxious Darwinians
05. Panaphobia
06. Ideomotor
07. Lonely Solipsist
08. Dead Ocean
09. Mass of the Earth
10. Everybody Wants You (Dead)
11. Revenge of the Dadaist

Run Time: 59:01
Release Date: June 5, 2012

Check out the song: “Thank You Pain”