AGVIRRE — Silence (review)

AGVIRRE — Silence album cover EP · 2020 · Atmospheric Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Silence" is an EP release by UK, Manchester based post-black metal act Agvirre. The EP was released in January 2020 on CD through Trepanation Recordings and on cassette tape through Surviving Sounds. It´s the band´s first (longer) release and they have chosen to write about living with mental illness, and they interviewed people struggling with mental illness for inspiration, and have used voice samples (I assume with permission) from some of the interviews on this release.

"Silence" consists of three tracks and a total playing time of 26:29. "Radio Silence (Fill In the ______)" is a shorter intro track, while both "Muzzle & Mask" and "Abandonment" clock in at around 12 minutes. Stylistically the material is melancholic/depressive and atmospheric black metal. Agvirre play both fast and mid-paced and in addition to guitars, bass, drums, and vocals, the music features omnipresent use of violin and keyboards, which provide the music with an occasional symphonic edge. Symphonic in this case should not be understood as if this is symphonic black metal like Dimmu Borgir or anything like that though, just that there are epic moments and classical music influences featured on the EP. The vocals are predominantly desperate shouting/screaming, and a little one-dimensional in nature, and it´s nice to hear the clean vocal sections which closes "Abandonment" , because it´s not only well performed, it also provides the vocal part of the music with some needed variation (a little bit of shoegaze influence is heard there).

"Radio Silence (Fill In the ______)" is an eerie "white" noise track with voice samples, which creates the right opening to the mood of the two longer tracks which follow. "Muzzle & Mask" is to my ears the most interesting composition on this release, and "Abandonment" struggles a little more in terms of featuring an equal number of interesting compositional ideas. It´s still a great track, but I prefer the style and quality of "Muzzle & Mask".

"Silence" was mostly recorded at home by the involved musicians, but they have still managed to make the EP a well produced release (with the help of producer Chris Taylor). So upon conclusion "Silence" is a promising first release by Agvirre. It´s a very creative release and it´s obvious the band have poured a lot of time and heart into the making of it. I could maybe have wished for the tracks to have been a little shorter and more concise, and thereby ultimately also more effective, but it´s details and overall "Silence" is a quality release and a 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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