Agriculture’s The Spiritual Sound review: holy, heavy music

Agriculture are not the first band to seek the holy by way of heavy music, but they go about it in a much more thoughtful manner than most. Like anyone who’s let out a blood-curdling scream, smashed a blast beat into an unsuspecting drum set, or slashed a power chord with the amp on full blast, they know the release that can be found in expressions of anger and agony. But Agriculture are also interested in representing the full spectrum of human emotion. “This is an album about the really fundamental human experiences of suffering, joy, and love,” they wrote in a press release about their new record, The Spiritual Sound. “To us they are by definition spiritual and worth singing and screaming about.”

Like Agriculture’s self-titled debut project, the new record juxtaposes long passages of high-octane chaos with moments of striking tenderness. Take opener “My Garden” — one-third Leah Levinson’s hellacious vocals over growling guitar and bass, one-third Dan Meyer’s soft falsetto over dampened blast beats, one-third unabated noise. Or “Bodhidarma,” which, after an epic intro, settles into near silence, an ultra-slow drum accompanying Levinson as her scream settles into something closer to a whisper. Later, after the original instrumental repeats, she reappears over heavenly guitar arpeggios.

On penultimate track “Hallelujah,” Meyer sings a melody that contains echoes of “The Well,” the slow song that sets the stage for Agriculture’s second act. Here, he calls out to Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism who famously stared at a cave wall for nine years. “My head is on fire / Should I cut off my eyelids / And stare at the stone wall?” he sings. “Could you pacify my mind for me?”

The song ends in a cathartic full-band explosion, but closer “The Reply” reminds us that truth does not come in the form of pacification. We must make our own meaning from the rare spiritual encounters life gives us and, as Agriculture proves, the only way out is through.