AGRO - SOUTH AFRICA

From Within - 1995 - Evolution
Eyes - 1998 - Evolution
The Tree - 2000 - Evolution
Forthcoming - 2003 - Lost Agony
Gouda Than Hell - 2004 - ENT
Ritual 6 - 2006 - Armageddon

Agro image
  
 
Members
Vocals
Wanna Sleep, Gone Fishing>>CLIFFORD CRABB

Guitar
David Kietzmann - Shane Pennicott - Daniel Lambinon


Bass
Phillip du Toit - Absolution, Bird Cage Walk>>ROBBIE RIEBLER

Drum
Grant Merricks


Keyboard
Woodheads, Thee Untitled, Tyburn>>Nick Vassilev




History & Biography
Gauteng, South Africa’s Agro was formed in 1992 and issued a CD three years later that was called From Within. Rhythm guitarist David Kietzmann would die because of a car accident within a couple of years. The band added a keyboardist a few years after formation in order to have a neoclassical sound. Keyboardist Nick was born in Bulgaria. Phillip Du Toit left for the UK in 1999.

The band’s break came when the group played at the Wacken Open Air in 2000. The band was signed to Germany’s Armageddon Music for 2006 thus giving the South Africans distribution outside its country. The band and label had connected through another Armageddon Music band, Reckless Tide. Daniel Lambinon left the group during the recording of Ritual 6. Rewriting History was a self-cover version CD and DVD that was released indepdently in 2010. That which does not kill a band surely at the very least puts it into hiatus and the group re-appeared with a demo, called The Bitter End, in 2020. Alex Temperley was on drums and Martin Dugdale and Ian Gertenbach were on guitars.


Reviews

AGRO - RITUAL 6 - ARMAGEDDON  
Ritual 6 is the sixth album of this band, which hails from South Africa. It is also the first one most people would hear because Agro (bad connotations) has been hiding down in South Africa until now. The medicine man on the cover should be a hint that the band is not exactly what one would call conventional. The music is a mix of thrash, heavy and progressive metal. The song Willowmore even sounds like Samael. Agro is not about copying what others have done before it. The independent approach is reflected through song titles like Tr333, Whizzdel, C7511 and B.D.F.P. The group’s heavier riffs are overshadowed by the ore technical and progressive touches, but the growls of singer Cliff Crabb maintain the aggressive edge. - Anna Tergel


Interviews







Agro