The Black Forest, perhaps unsurprisingly, features a walk through twilit, spooky woodlands. Thankfully, however, Swedish prog-rockers Agents of Mercy manage to sidestep the typical genre nemesis like, say, a dragon. Instead, this swirling, half-lit landscape is used as a metaphor for life’s mysteries.
That’s not the last time that Agents of Mercy’s third studio album surprises, as you’re taken on a journey that is by turns disturbing, scary — oh, and in another left turn, often very loud.
There’s more of a heavy-rock feel than previous Agents of Mercy efforts, in particular on “Black Sunday” and “Citadel,” which owe far more inspirationally to Black Sabbath, Deep Purple and early King Crimson than to, say, Yes or Genesis. At the same time, the panoramic opening title track streaks impressively from this bucolic serenity over to a billowing symphonic grandeur.
“Freak Of Life” seems to pluck out the best of both impulses, and combines them into one of the album’s more compositionally assured, imagination-goosing moments. “A Quiet Little Town” boasts this zippy fusion-like interplay, “Between Sun And Moon” is a brawny anthem, while “Elegy” showcases the band at its most generous and emotional. Throughout, the brilliantly collaborative vocals give the project this theatrical propulsion — sounding, at times, like a much, much — MUCH — darker version of Queen.
Returning with the same lineup as last year’s Dramarama (vocalist-keyboardist Nad Sylvan, guitarist Roine Stolt, keyboardist Lalle Larsson, bassist Jonas Reingold and drummer Walle Wahlgren), Agents of Mercy has deepened its sense of musical inter-connectivity, even while broadened its range.
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