Agonoize – 666 Degrees Below (EP – RepoRecords)
Genre/Influences: Dark-Electro.
Format: Digital, CD.
Background/Info: Two years after the outstanding “Midget Vampire Porn”, Berlin-based (Germany) Agonoize strikes back. This EP is an appetizer to the seventh full length album of the band.
Content: The title song also is the opener of the EP revealing Agonoize is in good shape. They remain driven by this dark and freaky (h)el(l)ectro style. All aspects are dark and I even dare to say tormented. The songs are hard and bouncing, mixed with melodic sequences and leads while frontman Chris L. is still singing as a possessed soul.
Next to the title song we get 4 more cuts from the upcoming album, but only as remixes. The “Short Cut” of “Angst Ist Macht” is probably pretty close with the album edit and remains pure Agonoize-like. Eisfabrik and Nachtmahr have remixed each one song. The track “Komakind” has been remixed by Nachtblut while there also is a pretty clubby-sounding “Klubkind Mix”.
+ + + : There’s no better way than introducing your new full length album with such a great EP-title song. “666 Degrees Below” simply confirms the status of Agonoize; there’s no other band able to push the boundaries of Dark-Electro to this degree of terror and hell… It’s an extremely powerful song filled with anger and rage, but still masterly controlled. Both remixes by Eisfabrik (cf. “Faux Amis”) and Nachtmahr (cf. “Dein Gott”) are brilliant. Notice by the way Gerrit Thomas (Funker Vogt, Eisfabrik) again did the mixing and mastering of the album. I also have to mention the dancefloor-driven “Komakind”-edit, which is another potential hit. When discovering this EP you can only, but be prepared to welcome the new Agonoize-album.
– – – : I was less inspired by the Nachtblut remix of “Komakind” revealing guitar riffs on top. It all sounds like taking a distance with the Agonoize-sound –however that’s precisely what remixes stand for.
Conclusion: Dark-Electro terror that opens the gate of hell!
Best songs: “666 Degrees Below”, “Komakind – Klubkind Mix”, “Dein Gott – Nachtmahr Remix”, “Faux amis – Eisfabrik Remix”.
Rate: (8).
Artist: www.agonoize.berlin / www.facebook.com/AgonoizeOfficial
Label: www.reporecords.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Repo-Records/119590774857404
About Agonoize
Agonoize is a German aggrotech band from Berlin, founded in 2002 around core member Gerrit Thomas, with Chris L. on vocals and Oliver Senger, according to Discogs.
Side-Line covered the band in a 2020 Click Interview. “666 Degrees Below” served as the appetizer EP for the band’s seventh full-length, “Revelation Six Six Sick”, whose release Side-Line reported on in a 2021 news item on the streaming release concert and later reviewed in full.
The EP’s remixes were handled by Eisfabrik and Nachtmahr, with Funker Vogt also crediting the mixing and mastering of the coming album to Gerrit Thomas, who works across both bands.
“666 Degrees Below” was released via RepoRecords.
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