Agabas – Agabas

One of the zillion things to love in this job is to receive top notch instrumental bands. Each one with a dazzling and surprising programe that makes your jaw breaks. The thing is that bands are still trying to stand out from the crowd with some astonishing and amazing sonic textures. Before knowing Agabas with their self-titled album I would never tell that I would love a Metal band with a saxophone. Too profane for me, if you know what I mean. I have this really well divided in my mind; Metal distorted guitars, Jazz saxophones. Simple as that. Okay, too simple I agree, but it really works. By this I don’t mean I don’t appreciate Jazz. I do appreciate some as the Jazz-rock it was done in the 1970s by Chick Corea, John Mclaughlin, among others. Please read “Some Non-Metal Guitar Players That Metal Guitarists Should Know” that I wrote an year ago where I cited some jazz/jazz-rock guitarists I appreciate.

“Agabas” is the kind of EP with the flavour of wanting some more. It is so because it has only, take this, I said only four tracks. Some may say “Ah, one more stiff band that thinks that they are discovering the wheel.” Okay, there was a time I would agree with you, but not now. “Agabas” is surprising because in the very first beginning you think “Where the hell is the jazz that they talk so much?” because in the first minutes “Sorrowful” sounds pretty much Death Metal standard. It’s when the first guitar phrase comes that you feel that something sounds different here. It’s not that Agabas use a complicated and intricate jazzy construction, it’s not that. It’s just the way the phrase is played with a simple pentatonic scale – does anybody here remember the pentatonic scales? Then comes “Tussmørke,” which also begins standard, where by the fourth minute the saxophone enters so subtle that one may think it was always there embellished by an amazing fuzzy guitar. The guitar tricky again is the use of the pentatonic scale. “Guiding Light” and “Kulda” go nearly the same path, except that “Guiding Light” remembers a lot Motörhead’s sonance because of the vocals. Again, the saxophone intervene subtly, but remarkably. “Kulda” has even more a NWOBHM taste because of the introductory guitar riff and the drumming. The outcome is simply pure magic. Unfortunetely, it was the end of “Agabas.”

I was really amazed with “Agabas.” It was the kind of unexpected mix that surprises. I guess that I loved it so much because Agabas started where 1970s jazz-rockers stopped. Simple as that.

I’m so anxiously waiting for some more.

Agabas “Agabas” was independently released.

Track Listing:

  1. Sorrowful
  2. Tussmørke
  3. Guiding Light
  4. Kulda

Watch “Tussmørke” official lyric video here: