Release Date July 3rd, 2026
Format CD, Digital
Genre Asylum Metal
Origin Finland
Agarwaen started in Finland in 2006 by Anthony Hodju, first under the name Shathanas, with the EP "The End Of The Santa". The name Agarwaen came later that same year, followed by the EP "Vrykolakas" in 2010, before the project stopped for several years. Hodju brought Agarwaen back in 2019, leading to the full-length "Dottore I" in 2020 and "Channel: Lunacy" in 2023. After live activity in Finland, European dates in 2024 and an appearance at Tuska, the band entered a new phase with the lineup of Anthony Hodju on vocals, Pete Bay on lead guitars, Crazy Gustav on rhythm guitars, Dr. Wolfram on bass, Tomas Kasprzyk on drums and Vermin on percussion and acting duties.
"The Murder Trend" is the fourth full-length album by Agarwaen, released through Over The Border Records, and it is a strange, violent and twisted trip into trauma, abuse, revenge and inherited madness. The album follows Anton, a broken character shaped by cruelty and neglect, as his path turns into murder, cult imagery and horror-soaked madness.
This concept gives the album a nasty identity, more in a full horror-metal way where the music and story feed each other. Agarwaen operates in a self-proclaimed subgenre called asylum metal, and "The Murder Trend" is a twisted, maniacal ride that gives a fair representation of that title. Anthony Hodju and his crew do not follow traditional structures. They throw extreme metal, progressive tendencies, and theatrical madness into a blender.
Musically, the tracks shift from violent outbursts to groovy passages. The guitars provided by Pete Bay and Crazy Gustav lay down aggressive riffs, backed by the rhythm section of Dr. Wolfram and Tomas Kasprzyk, while Vermin adds extra percussion elements. Hodju handles the vocals with a frantic energy that matches the lyrical themes of madness. The production handled by Teemu Aalto provides the necessary clarity, and the mastering by Svante Forsbäck gives the final product a professional edge.
The main drawback comes from the massive scope of the material. When you have a final song that clocks in at almost sixteen minutes, the momentum can occasionally drag. Some ideas are stretched out, and the extreme stylistic shifts might alienate listeners who prefer a unified subgenre. It is a wild, unconventional album that delivers strong individual performances, even if the runtime requires some endurance.
|8.0
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