Art Against Agony – Sound Of Inevitability

We begin this new year with a review of a material released more than a year ago, as we have received it relatively late after its initial release. Nevertheless, we think it’s never too late to present our readers to a new artists, particularly because Sound of Inevitability is still the latest material from this musical constellation.

Who are Art Against Agony then? The project is both a band and an international artist collective. For those of you still unfamiliar, I can tell that Art Against Agony is a global collective of artists currently based in Germany – working on music, photography, videography and performance arts. The members of the collective maintain anonymous by wearing masks, aligning with their philosophy of championing art over personal names, bodies, or faces. Meanwhile, they chose to present themselves under following pseudonyms (all musicians have pseudonyms to match their masks!), namely; The Sorcerer (guitars), The Maximalist (mridangam), The Twin (bass), The Void (guitars), The Linq (drums) and The Pun (drums). It also features Aralee Dorough on songs “Hindsight Bias” & “His Daughter’s Eyes”. Let me just say immediately; she does a great work on the flute, simply captivating!

Sound of Inevitability is their fourth studio album, a double longplayer which comes with a 24-page booklet and 20 tracks in all. The musical style of this collective is very difficult to classify, as it is a very complex and varied material, including the elements of instrumental prog rock/metal, Djent, electronica and jazz fusion (instrumental) and many more. Throughout this fourth full-length offering, the band delivers some diverse and intricate rhythm patterns, and the nicely complex melodic structures. Songwriting is intriguing, and while listening to it multiple times now, it feels as the sound of Sound of Inevitability carries a weighty atmosphere, complemented by some solid guitar themes and surprising and unexpected percussion moments. The bass, with its different layers and textures, adds this cinematic and dreamy side to their sound, where sensations and changing landscapes merge and intensify with each new spin. My favourite track are; an almost extreme- yet technically complicated death metal piece called “Slightly Ov”, then a cool jazzy song titled “Fitches Brew”, and finally the previously mentioned, “His Daughter’s Eyes”.

Over the course of ninety-five minutes, Art Against Agony wears many faces: instrumental prog/metal, djent, electronica, jazz fusion – and it can feel challenging, demanding, overwhelming and sometimes confusing too. Not being the biggest fan of the genre, I still find Sound of Inevitability to be an interesting release which is characterized by the band’s skilled performance. With its constantly evolving nature Sound of Inevitability commands your attention and engagement from start to the very final note.

Two major disadvantages I can depict on Sound of Inevitability are; a) the fact that the sound is digitized (doesn’t work well on the fusion jazz parts!) and b) the general feeling of the band that has a trouble of keeping focus. It naturally reflects on a listener as well.

For anyone who hasn’t heard of Art Against Agony yet; it’s never too late to jump on the band-wagon and take a ride with this group of artists, exhibitionists and musicians. Esp. recommended for fans of Animals as Leaders, Plini, Sons of Kemet, Tigran Hamasyan, The Comet Is Coming etc.

For further information on this German-based interdisciplinary artist collective, and their latest double CD, go to https://artagainstagony.bandcamp.com/album/sound-of-inevitability-lp-2023