Prisoners

Although its explosively schizophrenic amalgam of disparate sounds, moods, and intensities might initially suggest otherwise, the Agonist's third album, 2012's Prisoners, is in fact an apt summation of that which came before it; a mature, calculated freakout representing the latest sprint in the Canadian band's aggressive evolutionary curve, well beyond the modest metalcore roots of 2007's Once Only Imagined debut. To that end, the recurring involvement of producer Christian Donaldson (known for his work with technical death metal ensemble Cryptopsy, among others) cannot be overlooked, as he clearly helped shepherd the Agonist's instrumentalists beyond the marked improvement (and still slightly overbearing deathcore influences) shown on 2009's Lullabies for the Dormant Mind toward a far more polished and progressive sort of controlled chaos. What's more, he did so while harnessing the outstanding, nerve-fraying vocal transformations of singer Alissa White-Glutz — who can switch between coarse grunts and angelic melodies at the drop of a guillotine — and let her sail atop these choppy seas with the fluid savvy of an albatross (with rare exceptions like weak-link "Dead Ocean"). And, whereas the obscenely broad range of the Agonist's creative reach is already copiously displayed by brain-twisting numbers such as "You're Coming with Me," "Anxious Darwinians" (which takes Lacuna Coil to a darker, more violent place), and the frankly overlong "Ideomotor" (which fades after an endless, seemingly tacked-on guitar solo), it's masterfully crafted highlights such as "Predator & Prayer," "Panophobia," and "Everybody Wants You (Dead)" that really pull it all together, fusing the extreme complexities and infectious hooks at war throughout the album with utmost precision. No, not perfection, precision: the band still has room for improvement (see less distinctive, curiously nerdy fare like "Lonely Solipsist," "The Mass of the Earth," and "Revenge of the Dadaists") and to say the group has achieved true originality of sound would be a heck of an overstatement. Rather, the Canadians continue to impress with their maturing talents and, at this rate, that utter break from familiar sounds could be just around the next corner.