There’s something comforting about the existence of Agnostic Front. Now well into their fourth decade, this most uncompromising of hardcore institutions has been ravaging eardrums since 1980 (a brief hiatus in the mid-90s notwithstanding), unleashing 12 albums along the way, with Echoes In Eternity the band’s 13th effort and their first in six years. It’s something special, too, marking the first release since vocalist Roger Miret’s 2021 cancer diagnosis, and perhaps something of the band’s relief seeped into the recording, because it’s as vital an album as has been released all year.
Wonderfully recalcitrant, Agnostic Front continue to eschew trends and Echoes In Eternity could just as easily have been released back in the 80s as now. Certainly, for the uninitiated, the energy levels are such that you’d be hard pressed to imagine this is one of hardcore’s most longstanding institutions. Right from the start, Agnostic Front are pushing everything into the red, with the frantic Way Of War detonating without warning. It’s a hell of a start, the band managing to cram chugging, mid-tempo riffs and bruising lead breaks into a compact, sub-two-minute frame. There’s no respite, either, and the band quickly unleash the moshpit frenzy of You Say, which combines stabbing riffs with a vocal that drips with disdain.
Unbelievably, it gets better. Mike Gallo’s churning bass greets the listener on the malevolent groove of Matter Of Life And Death which, featuring a guest spot from Darryl “DMC” McDaniels of Run-DMC, taps into the same vein as Biohazard’s Urban Discipline. They then follow it up with the hyper-speed riffing of Tears For Everyone, which manages to inflict maximum damage while barely scraping the two-minute mark.
Keeping things fresh, Agnostic Front change things up again with Divided, an almost melodic monster that proves surprisingly addictive. The same could be said of Sunday Matinee, a track that combines the Ramones and the Clash into a nostalgic wedge of old-school punk, gang chant vocals and phlegm-soaked chorus all intact. It’s a surprising little oasis at the heart of the album and it’s soon displaced by the ferocious I Can’t Win, which has echoes of Suicidal Tendencies Institutionalised in its self-deprecating lyrics.
Up next, Turn Up The Volume provides the album with its unofficial subtitle as the band deploy a swedging riff that only partially lays the foundation for another deceptively simple chorus. At not even a minute, blink and you’ll miss Art Of Silence before Shots Fired taps into the panicky underside of America, with its nervy riffing and gang vocals. The ferocious Hell To Pay shows that Agnostic Front still do anthems of rebellion better than almost anyone out there, whileEvolution Of Madness is simply unstoppable pit fuel.
With the album racing past, the menacing Skip The Trial finds a nameless protagonist struggling through life on the brutal streets, with death providing the only escape as the band whip up a soundtrack that’s part explosive hardcore, part Body Count groove. Crunchy guitar leads the way in the short, sharp Obey, and then Eyes Wide Open brings this meanest of dogs to heel, the band stamping down hard on any notion that Agnostic Front might be slowing after all these years.
A long time ago, Ian Winwood wrote a review in Metal Hammer (possibly of Slayer) where he talked about albums that left parents fearing a riot had erupted in your bedroom. That description always stuck with me and it fits Echoes In Eternity perfectly. From its hacking, slashing opening number through the bass heavy groove of tracks like A Matter Of Life And Death to the classic punk rock of Sunday Mattinee, Agnostic Front take the listener on a gnarly tour of hardcore’s past, present and future, and the net result is utterly indispensable. 9/10
