Agony Column - Way Back In The Woods (1995)

And so it came to be, like some sprawling yet unseen backwoods terror Agony Column's final record of an absorbing trio ascends from the oily black sky, coats the landscape in fetid filth and is never seen again. This time however, the travelling circus has mellowed - still of course finding time to infect the skin with their brand of deathly rock, but also leaning towards a somehow more sinister yet more laid back country twang. The black humour drenches the record as the twisted hillbilly jog of 'Small Black Toad' bewitches the wife, and 'Flying Sorceress' drenches the bath mat with its grunge infested doom. A few of the tracks are quite welcoming even as they drag on for over 8 minutes a shot, and believe me, these shots don't go down too easily - instead they claw at the back of the throat like some super strength ooze straight from the river bottoms of nowhere. 'Silver Spoon' has a bayou twinge whilst nine-minute chugger 'When The Dark Clouds Return' reminds us why we don't trust Agony Column. The band flirt with the sinister and also the comedic effortlessly, because the laboratory they own is one of macabre yet almost humorous specimens. Riff's can batter you but then caress, lead you astray, into quicksand where the insects are huge and the thought of life is worse than death. Agony Column could probably be friends with Danzig, Masters Of Reality and to some extent White Zombie but the difference with these guys is that they are schizophrenic, quite capable of a boogie but quickly followed by a bludgeon. Don't go in the woods...

8.5/10