Agenbite Misery – Remorse of Conscience Review

Anyone who has heard of the modernist classic James Joyce’s Ulysses has almost certainly come across the phrase “remorse of conscience” again. A central theme of the novel, remorse of conscience refers to something more than simple guilt for an alleged moral failure, but also the misery it causes, its weight and its torment.

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In the days leading up to the release of « Remorse of Conscience» , the independent debut from Agenbite Misery of New Hampshire, an album inspired by Ulysses and “drenched in sorrow, alienation and the search for meaning in modern life,” I too experienced that eponymous turmoil. Why? Because Agenbite Misery, along with bassist Cam Netland and drummer/main vocalist Adam Richards, is the creative child of guitarist/synthesist Sam Graff, our own Samguineous Maximus of AMG. I promise as fair and impartial a review as possible to both my colleague and my merciless overseers, and a terrifying question tormented me relentlessly between accepting the assignment and the promotion: « What if it sucks? »

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Among the myriad subgenres influencing Remorse of Conscience, the base of Agenbite Misery is a complementary fusion of sludge and black metal. Songs like “Bellwether and Swine” and “Mnesterophonia” oscillate between second-wave blackened intensity and a wash of Acid Bath grime, while the wrecks house of “Telemachean Echoes” pierces through hardcore sludge barbarity and “Circe” lends an atmospheric melancholy similar to that of Hexrot. This works: Agenbite Misery‘s sludge influence adds weight to their blackened riffs, while their black metal influence helps their sludge not drag on too long. Elsewhere, Agenbite Misery throw their weight around on “Cascara Sagrada” with a Portalesque disso-death depravity, indulge in melancholy electronic atmosphere on “The Twice-Charred Paths of Musing Disciples” and adopt an entirely danceable Crippling Alcoholism style on the post-rock, synth-filled “Whatness of Allhorse,” which sounds like something Blade would kill a room full of vampires to. Remorse of Conscience rarely stays still, and with Agenbite Misery‘s excellent songwriting, everything they try blends harmoniously.

Balance is the key to the success of Agenbite Misery and Remorse of Conscience. Each song is crafted with excellent dynamism, whether it’s the shifting tempos of “Circe,” the oscillating sense of lightness and crushing oppression of “Mnesterophonia,” or the gradual escalation of heaviness of “Whatness of Allhorse.” Vocally, Agenbite Misery combine all three band members with screams, roars, shrieks (“Bellwether and Swine”), barks (“Telemachean Echoes”) and (with flawless delivery!) spoken-word excerpts (“A Charitable View of Temporary Sanity,” “Whatness of Allhorse”), matching whatever mood the songs demand. The peak of Remorse of Conscience‘s balance is “A Charitable View of Temporary Sanity,” which over its thirteen minutes ranges from brooding, quiet bass arpeggios against sparse guitar notes to titanic doom riffs, from funeral paces to double death marches. Sometimes quietly unsettling, sometimes manically depressive, the variety in style and approach keeps Remorse of Conscience from ever being boring.

“Remorse of Conscience” remains gripping throughout its length thanks to Agenbite Misery‘s best balancing act: the mixing of immediacy with slow builds. Despite the thematic density stemming from its source material, “Remorse of Conscience” opens with a simple fury on “Telemachean Echoes” and loads “Whatness of Allhorse” and “Circe” with hooky synth and guitar leads respectively, giving the album an easy listen. Then there are Agenbite Misery’s epic pieces on “A Charitable View of Temporary Sanity” and “Mnesterophonia,” which avoid conventional song structure for slow, Isis-type post-metal waves and sludgy, noise-rock menace, in which one easily gets lost as a listener. Both modes keep the pace of Remorse of Conscience fresh, and the mix of short songs (“Telemachean Echoes,” “The Twice-Charred Paths of Musing Disciples”) with lengthy songs further dissolves any threat of creeping monotony. Both song-wise and album-wise, Remorse of Conscience is not only a rich, thoughtful exploration of guilt and turmoil, but also a genuinely, genuinely fun record.