It was a nice surprise to get a request to review this single from the band’s forthcoming album The Murder Trend. Finland’s Agarwaen were first around in 2006 but have been a more serious package after a nine year gap when they released their debut album Dottore I, in 2019. The band now are Anthony Hodju (vocals), Pete Bay (lead guitar), Crazy Gustav (rhythm guitar), Dr. Wolfram (bass), Tomas Kasprzyk (drums), Vermin (percussion, actor).
In 2025, they recorded The Murder Trend and the EP Arena of Retribution. As a taster for the album God Complex lays out the band’s USP and what they have to offer. They call it ‘Asylum Metal’ and their press-release adds that they offer ‘wild, crazy soundscapes with catchy riffs and stunning atmospheres. The band is an oddball that mixes all kinds of different metal styles into one frantic and lunatic music!’
It opens with an insistent jangly guitar line, soon joined by the rhythm section and a crunching rhythm guitar. It’s a long into, over a minute, before the vocals come in. What a shock that is, it sounds for all the world like you have bumped into some deranged villain out of Batman, except this is genuinely unsettling and scary. The sheer intensity of the backing track keeps things hard and heavy and is the perfect counterpoint to the vocals. This is a very exciting edgy song indeed. I like the shimmering textures around the edges of the soundscape too.
On this evidence the band have a lot to offer and with good fortune and promotion I could see them going down a storm live. They would get a lot of attention at a festival for sure because you can hear just how visual this band are likely to be.
The single will likely be on Youtube soon and the album is out in July. Hopefully you will be reading about it here.
