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Review: Los Angeles based self-described "ecstatic black metal" outfit Agriculture are slowly becoming one the most talked about acts in the extreme metal underground, with near hysteric levels of hype growing for their self-titled debut full-length. Signing to The Flenser, a label known for its championing of the leftfield extremity of artists such as Chat Pile and Mamaleek, it's no real surprise that so many in the scene are gravitating toward the group's euphoric and uplifting re-interpretation of black metal motifs. With tremolo picking, blast beats and howling vocal shrieks all angled in such a sonic manner to feel enveloping and warm as opposed to the traditional frosted machinations of the genre, as well as the vulnerable poetics on display, Agriculture make a strong case for the Venn Diagram intersections which can often occur between the realms of black metal, screamo and post-rock, but they do so in such a nuanced manner as for it to feel blissfully cohesive and utterly natural.

Review: Oakland queer blackened sludge duo Ragana make their decrepit return on the harrowing fourth full-length Desolation's Flower. Their first project since signing to acclaimed underground extreme label The Flenser (Chat Pile, Agriculture, Mamaleek), the work continues the stoic brutality of 2017's You Take Nothing, but embraces more emotive forms of catharsis, combining hefty sludge metal riffs with frenetic screamo chaos and black metal atmospherics. Hideous, despondent, and cavernous yet undeniably groovy all mayhem considered.

Review: LA indie rockers Sprain are the latest fixture of their state's post-rock/noise rock zeitgeist and to celebrate (following their debut), they've now released their second LP, The Lamb As Effigy Or Three Hundred & Fifty XOXOXOs For A Spark Union With My Darling Divine. Adding to the ever-burgeoning sophisti-post-rock landscape of late - which has heard an uptick in spoken word and noise elements - the trio unleash their screamiest, most abyssal vocal and instrumental anti-prayers here, lashing out at God and Man over the course of a gargantuan, eight-track sonic judgment day.