Cementation Anxiety – "Agnosiareign"

The new Cementation Anxiety album is called "Agnosiareign". It will be released on May 31st. If you remember the first Cementation Anxiety album, "Liminal Instability", from 2021, you'll be delighted to hear something new from Kyle Nelson, the artist behind the project. His second full-length album is a special milestone for him, so of course, it deserves to be mentioned here on Sounds Vegan!

Kyle told me:

"When I think of how long my second album "Agnosiareign" took to complete, I knew it was special. May 31st definitely will be a special day for me."

In my review of the previous album "Liminal Instability", I already talked about Kyle "setting off on a journey". With "Agnosiareign", he continues this musical trip and is now in the middle of an exciting expedition—far away from borders, continents, or time constraints. Cementation Anxiety has evolved, become even more versatile and fascinating and, with the new record, once again expresses the full spectrum of emotions human beings are capable of feeling. Kyle has set them to music in a magical, sensitive and creative way. He remains true to his way of making music—always moving from note to note, from chord to chord and from bar to bar in a very natural and skilful way.

While the project could still be loosely categorised as "Dark Ambient & Drone" when the last album came out, Kyle has now left genres behind entirely and created his own personal world of sound. The nine songs on this album have earned a name all of their own, which, in my opinion—could be the next thing in clubs and online zines all over the globe.

"Cementation Anxiety" is more than just a band name. The two words describe the feeling you get when you're petrified, waiting for a reaction that happens shortly afterwards without you being able to do anything about it. The music takes hold of you from the very first note and carries you through a story that grips you until the last note and never lets go.

Meditative, at the same time dark, composed to the point and versatile, like an expansive painting, the centre of which is not one protagonist but a large number of individuals, each bringing their own personal chronicle with them. They all come together as one and part again without greeting—quite naturally, as life happens.

As with "Liminal Instability", Kyle has created an audiovisual synthesis of the arts with "Agnosiareign". The sound, the song titles and the images are inextricably linked and speak the same language.

Here is what Kyle said:

"The songs and art on 'Agnosiareign' tell of the wavering between knowing and not knowing, where you also question the people closest to you. They cease to be an idea of anyone or anything. Reality becomes a labyrinth in which you try to understand yourself and others."

For the musician, his latest work is—in some sense—also a reaction to the pandemic, but on an interpersonal rather than societal level. However, the context remains the same.

I can just guess, but I'm sure with "Agnosiareign", Kyle has managed to fulfill his deep wish to make an emotionally dynamic record. The album has an almost indescribable atmosphere that thrives on its tension, surprising punchlines and harsh contrasts.

The artist drew inspiration for his second album from Japanese ambient and death industrial music, among others. The clarity and calm on one hand and the destruction, confusing fragility, and harshness on the other lead to a unity that we love so much about bands like Nine Inch Nails or Tool.

The fact that the artwork for "Agnosiareign" was created by the same woman whose art can also be seen on the special edition of the last Tool album fits perfectly into this picture. Deborah Sheedy rounded off the audiovisual experience with her art. She has perfectly expressed the sea of emotions that the songs on the LP are about and that she conveys.

You can pre-order "Agnosiareign" via Bandcamp¹ and already listen to the second song on the record "Ghosts Of Glass" today:

Cementation Anxiety - "Ghosts Of Glass"