US Progressive thrash / death band Sacrament is criminally unknown, subject to the fate that many bands on smaller labels, particularly those in the early Christian market, faced. They released 2 outstanding full lengths, but their best, in my opinion, was their 1989 debut, “Testimony of Apocalypse.” Fast forward 30 years, and several former members formed a new band, taking on the name of this album as their band name. This band has itself gone through a few changes, starting out with the original Sacrament vocalist, drummer, and guitarist, then losing the vocalist and featuring no less than 10 guest vocalists across all of the songs on their second release, which transparently caused me to lose interest due to the lack of continuity. I recently learned that they had a new album in the works, but this time it did feature a single vocalist, a guy who I also happen to know! In addition to Paul Graham (drums) and Nick Pacitti (guitars, keys), Derek Corzine joins on bass and vocals for their latest release that came out 1 week ago, “Agony in the Garden.” And what a release it is!

Now that you have some historical context, let me restart by saying, despite the former band members, Testimony of Apocalypse sounds NOTHING like Sacrament. In fact, this doesn’t sound like much of anything I have heard this year. I have seen this album described as thrash and groove metal, and though some of those influences are present, this is very much a doomy progressive death metal album at its core. You get a lot of the hefty mid-paced doom riffing and atmosphere, with an underlying melodic death metal foundation, weaved together with progressive stitching. The result is an immensely satisfying extreme metal release that at times sounds familiar but is full of surprises and many twists and turns. Bringing Derek into the band made a stark difference, not just in his incredible vocal diversity, but also in the impact his broad and diverse musical background contributes to the overall band’s sound.

The first time I listened, I actually wondered if Tomi Joutsen (Amorphis) was growling, as Derek sounds so much like him. There are definitely Amorphis-like progressive melodeath vibes at times, but ToA paves their own path by incorporating many other influences and crafting their own brand of extreme metal. I really love the pervasive Iced Earth esque doomy vibe that adds a ton of heft to the overall sound, and Derek’s versatile vocal approach adds a lot of texture. Besides his Amorphis-like growls, he contributes fabulous blackish screams and quite soulful cleans, which at times do remind me of a less croony Joutsen or Stu Block. The album features great guitar leads, crafty bass, powerful drumming, and tons of variety in each song. And in prog fashion, it is a concept album, but not a concept you would expect, focusing on the night Jesus spent in the Garden of Gethsemane (hence the title of the album) and exploring themes around related emotions. If you are familiar with the story, this is an incredible interpretation and deep dive, and the music does a fantastic job bringing the story to life in a brutal and emotional way.

The album has a title track 3 parter scattered throughout, with Part 1 opening things up (“Innocence Lost”). It immediately serves you some proggy doomy vibes, starting out ethereal and atmospheric before delivering heftier mid-paced death doom. You get a feel for Derek’s versatility immediately, with Tomi and Stu vibes. The song isn’t super flashy, though the middle eastern tinged late guitar solo adds some nice flair. “Born Not of Blood” starts with a doomy thrash groove, then meanders a bit across various tempos and dynamics with a nice dose of death and black vocals. The chorus is huge with a great melody, and the late guitar solo is moody and matches the atmosphere of the song.

“I Surrender” treats you to a nice proggy drum solo with some haunting light guitar lead before diving into a driving doom groove. The intro gets a nice reprisal midway, serving as a killer transition to a mid-paced progressive thrash journey, full of rhythmic variety, dynamic contrast, killer guitar lead, and some fancy basswork. I love the emotive blackish screams to end the song, which really punctuate the song thematically. “Refraction” has a big majestic opening, serves up a nice proggy driving mid-paced thrash groove, then knocks you over as it enters black metal territory. A tremendous guitar solo halfway bleeds back into atmospheric black metal, before settling down into a moody doom anthem with powerful emotive vocals.

“To Face the Coming Storm” is the second part of the title track saga, and it is probably one of the proggier songs on the album while still retaining a doomy / thrashy / deathy underbelly. This song reminds me a bit of Circle of Dust (without the industrial) colliding with Iced Earth, making a unique and very epic soundscape that is my favorite of the title track trio. “Lost Species on the Earth” has such a classic doomy feel as it opens, with the big emotive vocals, kicks you in the face with speedy death metal, and then intertwines these throughout with thrashy goodness. This is definitely one of the fastest songs on the album, with killer melodies and amazing guitar work. “Cross the River” has an epic folk feel to it and wouldn’t feel out of place on an Amorphis album. The driving melody is infectious and gets stuck in my head, the vocals are rousing, and there are killer guitar solos in several spots. The first harmonized guitar solo over the chunky riffing in particular is incredible. It is one of my favorites.

“Settle Your Eternal Destination” is a bit more straightforward musically, with more of a death doom feel. The chorus is fantastic, with soaring vocals juxtaposed against brutal gutterals. The end of the song flirts with djent just a bit as it fades out. “To Say Farewell” is the slowest song on the album, perhaps the token “ballad” that isn’t actually a ballad. It takes a more subdued approach on the verses, has an anthemic chorus, and sprinkles in some nice guitar leadwork and downtuned power riffing. It gives the listener a chance to breathe and reflect before the closing track, Part 3 of the title saga, “Lost to the Flame.” It has an epic crescendoing opening, giving way to a blackened death assault with a proggy groove. I love the race to the finish with the amazing extended guitar solo over speedy drumming, closing out an incredible album in style.

This album came out of nowhere for me, and it went from a surprise listen to an album I fully expect to make my top 20 metal albums of the year, impressive considering how great of a metal year we have had! I do hope this lineup does some live shows, as it would be a shame for more people not to hear how incredible this material is. Definitely check this one out, as you won’t hear anything else like it this year, and it is worth the journey.

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