Agony Face - CLX Stormy Quibblings

Inside the dark and cavernous cave, lies an unexpected quintet from Milan that play extreme sounds of Progressive and Death Metal that will soon knock your socks off with some crazy philosophic ideas that is surreal. Agony Face (Salt Merchants in which is their nickname) have been around for about nine years now and their music is a touch of growling vocals, rapid fire drumming that sounds like a machine gun going off with bullets ricocheting, heavy guitar riffs, and a lot of aggression that is brutal, forceful, and strong to get the heads banging. The band considers; Davide Guarinoni on Lead Vocals, Mirko Montrasio on Bass, Alessandro Bassi on Drums, and guitarists Riccardo Ricotti and Alessandro Uberti.

Their third album, CLX Stormy Quibblings, is one of those albums that have the touch of three genres. And it has the views with these extreme and disturbing concepts and it’s almost like walking into the mind of an insane person and seeing what kind of suffering he or she has been done into them and making themselves their own worst enemy. Vocalist Davide Guarinoni shows a lot of energy in his monster-like vocals that as I’ve mention before with a growling and snarling sound as if the beast has been unleashed out of its cage to reign chaos and terror in the town by creating pandemonium.

Duo guitarists Riccardo Ricotti and Alessandro Uberti have a touch of the classical/flamenco and heavy sounds by surpassing Kirk Hammett, Dave Murray, Dimebag Darrell, and Ottmar Liebert rolled up into one, but they carry the Prog-Death-Metal flavor to the core like no other and a little help from the powder keg explosion of drummer, Alessandro Bassi who is like a jet engine going for take-off to keep the fast-tempos and rapid changes from his drum kit to get the juice electrified with a lot of high voltage.

At times it goes through the sounds of Nocturnus, Cynic, Morbid Angel, and the Dillinger Escape Plan, but then goes into some layered and calming lines on some of the compositions to give the band a chance to relax before going back into the pummeling driven mode, and going into some of the futuristic voyages as well and it shows that Agony Face can do different variations on their sound to capture and grab it and making sure it doesn’t fall off the cliff. I have listened to CLX Stormy Quibblings about three times now and while I’m not crazy about the Death Metal sound, I think this is an amazing band that really can take it to a whole new level.

For me, this is an explosive, challenging, and vigorous album I’ve listened to from beginning, middle, and right into the very end. So if you are ready to be challenged for the sound and brutal force of Agony Face, be prepared and expect the unexpected for a roller-coaster ride you’ll never forget.