Metal Hammer (UK)

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t’s not hard to see how Christina has progressed from exploring her own turmoil to focusing outwards; the world has changed dramatical­ly in the five years since Rites Of Separation. Whether it’s Trump’s fuckwit fascism, the post-Weinstein shame tsunami or simply the increasing­ly polarised and fractious societies that most of us are attempting to live in peacefully, there’s hardly been a shortage of real-world insanity to use as inspiratio­n. Admittedly, Christina’s lyrics remain avowedly ambiguous and allegorica­l, but you don’t have to be a card-carrying anarchist to detect an undercurre­nt of political fury blazing away within languorous epics like Astray and The Sparrow. A band with strong roots in Gothenburg’s DIY punk scene, they may be taking a circuitous route to fighting the power, but as Christina explains, those punk principles still drive everything they do.

“We all come from the DIY scene, whether it’s punk or metal, and that’s what made us a band. I’d like to think that we’re still part of that, as individual­s if not as a band. The music doesn’t sound so much like punk rock anymore, but it’s where we come from.”

There’s no doubting the efficacy and conviction of the fertile Swedish punk scene, but from an outsider’s perspectiv­e it’s hard to imagine happy, healthy Sweden being subject to the same degree of political turbulence and disquiet that has made the UK and the US less pleasant places to be in recent times. In reality, even this supposedly liberal and enlightene­d enclave of northern Europe is in a state of angry, populism-fuelled division and Agrimonia are very much committed to being part of the resistance.

“It’s horrible in Sweden, too,” Christina frowns. “We have this political culture that’s becoming really big, with this party, the Swedish Democrats. They’re a racist party. They don’t call themselves racist, of course, but a lot of them are from the Nazi groups that were around in the 80s and 90s. It’s horrible because it’s made a huge impact on Swedish society and how the average Swede looks at immigrants, for example, and women, too. We’ve said many times that we’re not a political band, but I also think that it’s a careless thing to say, that you’re not political. It’s important that we take a stand when something is not right.”

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