“You see, what makes this band so unique,” lectures the bespectacled Gen-Z gentleman in a cardigan behind me to his friend, “is how happy this band sounds. It’s a complete contrast from metal, which you know is all about darkness and misery.”
I had just walked into Bar Le Ritz on a wet, snowy night to be confronted with the exact sort of person that makes concerts like this so uncomfortable. There’s nothing like the condescension of a white male genre tourist. You want happy metal? Go see Helloween in April; that’s gonna be a party. As much as the performative mansplainer missed the mark with his glib commentary, he does have a small point: Los Angeles band Agriculture, as it turns out, are pretty damned exceptional when it comes to bringing some sunlight to the cartoonishly miserable subgenre of black metal. Granted, we’ve seen it done before by the likes of Alcest, Deafheaven, and Liturgy, but as 2025’s album The Spiritual Sound attests, Agriculture is on to something entirely unique. And better yet, they don’t shy from trolling the clown-white crowd with t-shirts that openly declare the wearer’s love for whatever the hell “the spiritual sounds of euphoric black metal” is. Wanna annoy a black metal fan? Say you make black metal that makes people smile.
Personally, I’d been on the fence regarding Agriculture for years, and the last time I saw them was when they opened for Chat Pile in a 1,000-capacity venue and were virtually swallowed up by all the space. Black metal, ecstatic or otherwise, always works best in a much more intimate setting, and their set fell depressingly flat. However, this night’s show at Montreal’s 150-capacity venue was a tantalizing prospect. There’s too much potential in Agriculture to blithely write them off after one lousy night.
Tourmates and noise-grind weirdos Knoll helped set the mood with their commanding-sounding racket that almost drowned out the rest of the mansplaining, though personally I’ll never get over how one can introduce songs in voice that resembles Gollum coughing up a hairball and be taken seriously. But that set was ferocious, and when it ended, those of us who didn’t want to be taught the history of metal by someone who’s never heard anything older than Sunbather braved the exodus of sweltering people to secure a spot closer to where the music would well and truly pulverize and tenderize us.
As a live recording of Bob Dylan’s 1975 Rolling Thunder tour blasted on the PA, with a “FUCK ICE” banner on stage right, and a trans flag stage left, the four members of Agriculture unceremoniously took to the stage. No fanfare, no ominous, pre-recorded intro track, no theatrics, just four ragtag people looking as though they walked in off the street into an open jam session. A slight, feminine bassist with a curly ponytail on bass, a Zen Buddhist on guitar, a drummer with the rockabilliest of sideburns, and a studious-looking extreme metal shredder quickly set up, and launched into the complex sonic assault that is “Flea”, from The Spiritual Sound. The bravest extreme metal album since Liturgy’s Aesthethica, it somehow, impossibly, combines the trance-inducing swirls of atmospheric black metal, the post-rock experimentation of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the unpredictability and invention of post-millennial Scott Walker, expressive guitar solos that owe as much to Eddie Van Halen as Chuck Schuldiner, and melodies that emerge from the maelstrom to lift listeners like tiny little fists to heaven.
Immediately, the contrast from that previous Montreal show was apparent; Le Bar Ritz is a cozy, spectacular-sounding little room, and as soon as those blast beats hit, the power and volume of the music all but levitated the place. The joy and excitement was too much for those closest to the small stage, and when the Helmet-meets-Krallice insanity of “My Garden” kicked in, it was officially on, a ferocious pit igniting, sending unsuspecting folks scurrying to the back. That first half of Agriculture’s 75-minute set was astonishing, the band tearing through such memorable new tracks as “The Weight,” “Bodhidharma,” “Hallelujah” and “Micah (5:15 AM)” with unrelenting pace. Bassist Leah Levinson turned in a stunning, commanding vocal performance on “Hallelujah,” while guitarist Dan Meyer took center stage on the climactic “Hallelujah,” the room falling disarmingly silent during the quiet moments during both songs.
Meanwhile, Richard Chowenhill added his own melody and texture to the music thanks to his nimble solos. The one cog in Agriculture that links the band to traditional heavy metal, Chowenhill’s measured use of guitar flashiness adds a welcome dimension to the music. Drummer Kern Haug was an absolute force for the entire night, but his drum solo during “Relier” referenced both John Bonham and Neil Peart, leaning heavily into the musicality of his drum patterns. Rather than several exhausting minutes of showing off rudiments, like your usual drum solo, Kern’s actually had a narrative to it, and held the crowd’s interest. I haven’t heard/seen a drum solo like that in well over a decade.
“The Reply” serves as the emotional climax of The Spiritual Sound, and fittingly, it also served as the denouement of this epic little show. And true to their word, things got pretty damned euphoric, the melody rising to a massive crescendo that could melt the frigid heart of the steeliest Gen-X metal grump. The band closed out the night with 2024’s “Living is Easy”, the cacophony starting off brutally before the metaphorical clouds parted and the prettiest Thin Lizzy guitar melody dappled the audience with sunlight.
The world sucks right now, America sucks even more, and there’s no end to the misery in sight, but with art, with music, with community like this, it feels a little easier to get by. I walked into the bar a little skeptical, but I exited with ringing ears, and yes, a smile on my face.
