Agabas – Hard Anger (Deluxe)
Release Date: 5th March 2026
Label: Mascot Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Deathjazz
FFO: Rivers of Nihil, BTBAM, Atheist.
Review By: Jeff Finch
Deathjazz. Sit on it, think about it, ponder its existence. The violent force of death metal mixed with the chaotic, organized chaos of a jazz band. What do we get when we combine these seemingly unrelated genres? Agabus. We get Norway’s Agabas. But what does it sound like?
Death Metal Jazz Band. The thing that makes each thing tick now being forced to mingle for 48 minutes over 13 tracks turns out to be one of the most captivating and fun listens I’ve had all year. This new addition, Hard Anger, can be adroitly described as controlled musical insanity. The band’s aforementioned approach is still front and center for the entirety of the record; savage death-metal riffs and blast beats colliding head-on with frenetic saxophone sequences and jittery, almost Mathcore rhythms. It shouldn’t work on paper, but in practice it feels like a violent, chaotic organism constantly mutating from one idea to the next, every idea a ferocious trip into the depths of hell where Satan now plays Sax instead of a fiddle.
Vocally, the lyrics are spat out with feral intensity all while the instrumentation darts in every direction, giving the whole record a feeling like it might fly off the rails at any second.
Final track The Wizard sees the band paying respects to their less heavy but still experimental prog rock elders, the song sounding incredibly similar to Cities on Flame by Blue Oyster Cult, especially when the riff shifts to the saxophone and back again. As a fan of music, it’s just plain awesome.
What keeps Hard Anger from becoming pure noise is how deliberate it all feels underneath the madness. A saxophone solo following a nasty riff that leads to a breakdown is musical genius. The band knows exactly when to tighten the screws and when to let the chaos breathe, shifting between suffocating heaviness and moments where the strange jazz flourishes take center stage. It’s abrasive, unpredictable, and honestly pretty exhilarating once you fall into its warped grasp. Agabas aren’t just playing with genre boundaries on Hard Anger, they’re gleefully smashing them with a sledgehammer.
(4.5 / 5)
