I'm Thankful For (European) Intrumetal Part V: Latitudes - Agonist and Tomydeepestego - Chronophage

British chug-monsters Latitudes put out a really-good-but-not-quite-great EP a few years ago. This new record, "Agonist," however, marks their ascent into the stratosphere. This is one incredible slab of instrumental sludge (save one song which has some vox, posted below) that anyone reading this blog probably doesn't want to miss.
If you're the kind of person who complains that Pelican has lost too much of their heaviness, or Isis has gotten to proggy, but still want something clever and thought provoking while unapologetically brings the rock, Latitudes is probably right up your alley. The album is heavy, epic, driving, and well-written- everything you want a record like this to be, without ever descending into being too techy or navel-gazing. They walk that line between being smart and being self-indulgent really well and always keep their songs engaging, rather than showy. This will most-likely make my tops of the year list (if I ever get off my ass and make one) so I would suggest checking it out ASAP. Latitudes are the official best thing to come out of England since season 3 of Doctor Who.
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Italy's Tomydeepestego (once again- TO MY DEEPEST EGO, not "tomy deep est ego" like I initially read it) are back with a second full length of upbeat, melodic, instrumental metal. If you like their first record, you'll probably like this one.
I will say that I have two problems with this record. One is the recording. It's a little... grainy? I don't know. The whole thing sounds a little blown out and not in a cool way which makes the record "raw" or something, but in a bad way which makes the record a little hard to listen to. The other is that this record just isn't as good as their last one. In my humble opinion, this record represents a step down.
Having said that, the last record set the bar pretty high, and you can't always expect a band to knock it out of the park. If the first record didn't exist I'd be telling you about this awesome new band called Tomydeepestego right now, because this record is, still, pretty fucking awesome. Really. The songs continue to be well written and engaging, the riffs continue to be catchy, etc. If you haven't checked Tomydeepestego out yet, I'd start with "Odyssea" and, if you like it, which you will, move on to "Chronophage." They're both going to continue to get spins from me, but I have a feeling that Odyssea will outlive Chronophage for me. Here's hoping the next record is better than both of them.
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login or register to post comments Submitted by herry on Fri, 2010-07-30 11:34.