Fermentor are an instrumental metal duo from San Diego featuring members of Atheist and Beekeeper. Their trademark style is an experimental blend of precisely executed death metal and improvised post rock. Their latest album, Agreement, out tomorrow, is entirely improvised in the studio and marks their most diverse and daring musical venture to date.
“Wintry Earth” This opening track sets the stage for the album with an ominous droning loop created live by guitarist Adam Wollach. Evil sounding notes ring out over the loop until Dylan Marks’ massive sounding drums disturb the ambience and kick off the song. Strange time signatures and unusual guitar textures lead from bitter howls into a dissonant solo finalized by a brutal death metal outro, giving a perfect energy ramp into the next track.
“Whisper Flesh” One of the catchiest songs on Agreement, this track starts with a dissonant chord looped on guitar. The drums build tension and then snap in with the next guitar layer, continuing the evil and heavy vibes until blasting from death metal verses into heavy groove choruses where the loop is returned. Fermentor’s quintessential syncopation and unusual time signatures are on display here as they move effortlessly between the sections. Remember, this is all improvised! None of these parts were premeditated. The arrangement is created on-the-spot. This is apparent in the studio video, available to watch on Fermentor’s YouTube.
“Dead Farm” One of the band’s favorites on the record, “Dead Farm” began as a troubleshooting procedure as guitarist Adam Wollach turned on and off the THREE amps he uses to record the album in real time. Dylan Marks found a beat, and the duo launched into one of the most fun tracks on Agreement. Groovier than the preceding tracks, “Dead Farm” is an amalgamation of Fermentor’s influences such as Sepultura, Gojira, and Mastodon.
“Ceratops” This is where the album begins to challenge the listener a bit, especially if they are fans of Fermentor’s earlier work. “Ceratops” is the first song recorded in the studio from this record. In the studio, Fermentor would often use improvising as an opportunity to have fun creating and experimenting while also warming up their minds and bodies before working on written material. One result of this was frequently having a more mellow energy at the start of a jam. “Ceratops” is a good example of this. The song starts very relaxed with a simple guitar loop, but as the energy builds to a more heavy conclusion, the warm-up is complete and the band has a unique song to show for it.
“More Than Eight” Clocking in at just over two minutes, “More Than Eight” is a true-to-form Fermentor track. Weird, heavy, and groovy, with Fermentor’s now trademark guitar looping on display as parts are woven quickly and without forethought. The name “More Than Eight” is significant. In late 2022, when Fermentor planned the recording of the eight tracks for Mind Meld, they discussed the possibility of also recording improvised music. After much planning and with the help of their engineer, Ben Moore, they were able to record the eight songs for Mind Meld and 34 more improvised tracks, 17 of which became Agreement! So, after a mere five days, they left the studio having exceeded their objective with “More Than Eight” songs. This track is named in honor of this achievement.
“Ghost Girl” Another unusual genre departure for the band, Fermentor explores their more experimental side on “Ghost Girl,” jamming and soloing over strange loops moving between post-rock and groove metal. Fermentor recorded so much improvised music during their five days in the studio that they actually have no recollection of creating this song. It was as much a surprise to the listener as it was to them!
“Roach God” is indicative of the album’s whole recording process. It was a pretty huge experiment for the band. They were managing the written songs and the improvisations and running Pro Tools and videoing themselves all at the same time. It was a lot, and they were learning on the fly, so making mistakes or forgetting something was an inevitability. Over time, they came to enjoy the imperfections and eventually love them, as they created specific characteristics for each track on the album. For example, if you want to hear a moment in “Roach God” that makes drummer Dylan Marks die laughing, just listen to the guitar at 1:58 on this track. So, even though “Roach God” is imperfect, it adds to the vibe and becomes part of what makes this song unforgettable.
“Rotted” This is guitarist Adam Wollach’s favorite song on Agreement. A completely improvised, full-on brutal death metal song well within Fermentor’s traditional style and musical interests. Not without its unusual moments, “Rotted” is one of the few tracks on this album without any looped sections. Just riff after riff, culminating in an absolutely monstrous breakdown to wrap up this banger.
“Deactivated” You can watch it unfold in the studio video on YouTube: drummer Dylan Marks is just tip-tapping on his snare, getting levels in his headphones. That was all it took. Fermentor dropped into an angular and dissonant groove part and allowed their imaginations to run wild. Time signatures shift and evolve as the guitars develop the chordal dissonance into moody syncopations, a solo over heavy loops, and finally circle back to the original theme, tunneling their way out with speedy double kicks and big triumphant chords.
“Agreement” The album’s title track, Agreement is marked by a chugged rhythm looped on guitar, built upon by more heavily palm-muted guitars laden in reverb, and finally the loop played back in half-time for an exceptionally heavy outro.
“There With That” This is Fermentor at their most cinematic. No strangers to film composition, guitarist Adam Wollach composed the film score to the feature film Sign Man. “There With That” sees the duo pulling both from elements of music-to-picture as well as more epic metal sensibilities, somehow combining the genres in a palatable and emotive way.
“Human Caterpillar” During their time in the studio, a strange anomaly was discovered. One of guitarist Adam Wollach’s pedals had a peculiar glitch that, when it occurred, created a bizarre feedback loop. It’s present on a few of the songs on this record, but the band came to like the sound and kept it in as an Easter egg of sorts. In “Human Caterpillar,” the band was preparing to create yet another piece of improvised music, but instead, the pedal glitched again. This time, it malfunctioned in a way that was so loud it almost broke drummer Dylan Marks’ headphones! So this track is more of a documentation of that hilarious moment between the friends and a memory of this particular malfunction they came to love. The band released the song on April Fools Day, under the pretense that they felt this was their magnum opus!
“Transgression” This is a pretty classic Fermentor jam that harkens back to their early days bonding over their shared love of thrash. Guitarist Adam Wollach requested some cymbal chokes from drummer Dylan Marks and the ole choke-n-thrash was all it took to kick off “Transgression.” Like all of these songs, the video is available to watch on Fermentor’s YouTube.
“Hides Behind Hands” Similar to Fermentor’s song “Cold Comfort,” from their previous album Release Me, “Hides Behind Hands” is a brief solo guitar piece improvised in the studio by guitarist Adam Wollach. Evoking deep feelings of melancholy, wistfulness, and concern, the song also acts as a moment of reflection and respite from the relentless barrage of music on Agreement.
“Protohuman” is a strange and wonderful piece of kaleidoscopic madness combining swirling loops and brutal blast-offs that simultaneously harken back to the unconventional death-thrash Fermentor has been known for since the beginning, while also reaching new realms of experimentation. The song truly came from deep within Fermentor’s protohuman brains!
“Skybeam” Do you feel the air crackling around you? BYOOOOAWWWWWMMMMM!!! That deafening blast of explosive energy illuminating the sky is known as the “Skybeam,” and its cacophony marks the impending conclusion of the album! There is only one way past “Skybeam,” and that is THROUGH!
“All Ashes” The final track on the album, “All Ashes” winds down from the full-throttle energy of the preceding tracks and provides an opportunity to look back on the experience of Agreement and all the twists and turns both musically and in the real-life development and creation of the record. By watching the videos and experiencing the process, the duo invite the listener/viewer to immerse themselves as a de facto participant of Fermentor, rather than as a passive audience member. Thereby summing up the implicit thesis of Agreement: Fermentor’s music is as much about the journey as it is the destination.
Creating Agreement was an intense and deeply rewarding process. The guitar and drums aren’t just playing alongside each other; they’re in constant conversation, pushing and pulling the energy forward. Equally integral to the music is the production, spearheaded by Wollach, which required extraordinary planning, strategizing, and collaboration. The result exceeded our wildest hopes, striking a unique balance between reality and magic; flexible enough to evolve with the ever-changing dynamics that at any moment may need to sound huge and monolithic, then light and delicate, all while retaining the organic edge that keeps the sound alive.
Agreement is not just a collection of tracks but the final chapter in a grander experiment, beginning with Mind Meld, continuing with Release Me, and concluding with Agreement. Together, these three albums explore the possibilities of Fermentor’s rare musical symbiosis and its ability to convey energy, technicality, and storytelling without words.
The post Track-by-Track: Fermentor – ‘Agreement’ appeared first on Decibel Magazine.