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All the elation, transcendence, and intensity of heavy music radiates with overwhelming force from the second album by this self-described "ecstatic black metal" collective hailing from Los Angeles.

This new album combines immense heaviness with imaginative detailing. Key track Bodhidharma rides a guitar motif suited to a biker gang, then a burst of static and screaming introduces a melancholic atmospheric rock bridge section. The often-criticized technique of the virtuosic guitar solo is brilliantly revived by guitarist Richard Chowenhill, whose soloing on this track and on standout Flea will have you floating in ecstasy – yet the gentle song the track Hallelujah features descending guitar melodies played with childlike simplicity.

Songs such as Micah and the song Serenity are fast-paced punk rock, but Dan’s Love Song is without percussion and has glacial drone-metal fuzz rumbling underneath its ethereal beauty. Melodies in black metal can often be either nonexistent or too complex, but Agriculture’s riffs and hooks are vibrant and innovative, and closer The Reply even recalls a much heavier the band Radiohead.

Listeners who enjoy post-metallers Deafheaven will probably love all this contrasting dynamics and unabashedly gorgeous noise, particularly since the group also feature two distinct vocal styles, split here across two singers. One vocalist contributes occasional soulful, clean singing, but the star is the other vocalist, whose voice trembling on one track but splenetically caterwauling elsewhere.

In typical black metal fashion, it's difficult to make out her lyrics, yet they are worth the effort: the narratives she conveys about personal struggles and anti-LGBTQ bigotry are devastating, just like her quest for meaning in a world that inexorably bends towards conflict.