Agony opens with a heavy instrumental called "Welcome to the Cage." While it is heavy, that doesn’t mean that it is always fast. From Nowhere has an great talent for varying the speed of the song in an amazingly beautiful way. "Welcome to the Cage" just gives you a taste of what these guys can do instrumentally. Without the vocals, you have time to appreciate the guitar skills. I really like the cadence of "The Fallen One." It’s a heavy song, but yet pleasant in a way. "Right to Die" is probably my favorite on the album. I love the guitar solos in it. "REM" starts out very slow with an almost gothic sound that rolls into a very heavy riff. "REM" is also an instrumental like "Welcome to the Cage." "REM" ends with an alarm clock sound which makes me wonder if the song is supposed to be a dream. It definitely has a dream-like quality to it.
From NowhereM pays homage to two classic metal bands with covers of Cancer and Death. "Hung, Drawn, and Quartered" is a Cancer cover and sounds very much like the original. It is not my favorite song on the album, but it is a cover of a classic. I really like "Sacred Serenity." It is a Death cover and, like "Hung, Drawn, and Quartered" is very faithful to the original sound.
I really like how From Nowhere sounds musically, however the vocals are not a style I prefer. The vocals are a growl, so it’s difficult to understand what the songs are about without looking up the lyrics first. Of course, they’re pretty generic metal songs about death, pain and agony. None of them really stand out as truly poignant to me, though. Musically, I love these guys. They are very talented musicians! If you’re looking for a very heavy death metal band, check out From Nowhere’s new album Agony.
