Los Angeles Band "Agriculture" Bringing Ecstasy to Black Metal
Los Angeles has long been a fertile ground for underground experimentation, but few groups have reimagined black metal with the same radiant force as Agriculture. The four-piece ensemble—Daniel Meyer (guitar, vocals), Kern Haug (drums), Richard Chowenhill (guitar), and Leah Levinson (bass, vocals)—have carved a path that feels at once ferocious and celebratory, coining a style often described as ecstatic black metal.
Agriculture will be live at Exchange in Old Market on Wednesday 3 September 2025 - Get Tickets Here priced £20.35 including booking fees.
Breaking From Tradition
Where traditional black metal thrives on bleakness and despair, Agriculture flips the script. Their music is furious and cathartic, but instead of darkness, it points toward light—toward joy, spirituality, and transcendence. The roots of this sound stretch back to improvisational noise-scene jam sessions between Haug and Meyer, which eventually grew into the fully realized band heard today.
From EPs to Acclaimed Albums
Agriculture first turned heads with The Circle Chant in 2022, a debut EP that wove together black-metal blast beats with unexpected textures like pedal steel guitar and a cappella harmonies. Songs such as “Salt” and the two-part title track revealed their knack for bending heaviness into something oddly uplifting.
Their self-titled debut LP followed in 2023, expanding the palette with even greater intensity and emotional depth. Tracks like “Look, Pt. 1” captured the sensation of screaming in reverence rather than rage—a core ethos of the band.
In 2024, they released Living Is Easy / The Circle Chant, a combined LP that paired their original EP with four new songs. The title track, a seven-minute black-metal storm complete with soaring guitar solo, quickly became a centerpiece of their live shows. The accompanying music video—featuring a tongue-in-cheek brawl with labelmates Chat Pile—showed the band’s playful edge amid their otherwise intense sound.
Looking Ahead: The Spiritual Sound
This fall, Agriculture will release The Spiritual Sound, their most ambitious record to date. Due out in October 2025, the album reportedly bridges Meyer’s Zen-inspired explorations with Levinson’s queer-inflected narratives of survival and identity. Structurally, the record splits in two: one side explosive and cathartic, the other slower, more devotional. The band describes it as a “spiritual grammar” binding together personal, communal, and transcendent experience.
Reception and Energy
Live, Agriculture’s performances are described as some of the most positive experiences in extreme music. Fans often emphasize the unusual feeling of joy at their shows—an emotion rarely associated with black metal. Still, the band has divided opinion among purists, some of whom dismiss their approach as too far removed from the genre’s grim roots.
But for Agriculture, that tension is the point. Their music is a challenge, an invitation to reimagine what heavy music can hold: rage and celebration, ferocity and compassion, noise and silence.
A New Chapter for Black Metal
Agriculture stands at the vanguard of a new wave in heavy music, a group intent on reshaping expectations. Whether screaming into chaos or collapsing into quiet reverence, they are forging a sound that feels less like despair and more like release. With The Spiritual Sound on the horizon, their journey into ecstatic black metal shows no signs of slowing.
Bristol gig location : Exchange, 72-73 Old Market St, Bristol, BS2 0EJ