VP/Xclusives | HEART BURNS: Agsunta in the Inferno of Emotions

A burning sensation rises from your chest, that every heartbeat you can count. Then you start catching your breath as the sensation gets out and scorches your skin until your eyes water. Suddenly, everything flashed back. You look around and realize that you have completely entered the raging inferno of emotions that Agsunta has set ablaze.

Every chord of their music sparks a sudden connection to anyone who listens. Each word hits so hard that it causes friction in between, enough to melt the ice that covers a cold heart stuck frozen into memories of the past. The band breathes fire through their songs until every eye sheds a tear, not to water down but to fuel the flames with emotions kept by a soul now erupting.

Anyone who dares to step into the blazing space of their music gets a burn for sure, with degrees varying depending on memories that their fire touches or the state of the soul who dared to enter the band’s inferno. Some burn gently in love, some aflame in the pain of a hopeless romance, and others just catch themselves in the ashes of a love burnt completely to the ground.

Jai, Mikel, Josh, and Stephen have paved the highway to hell where resistance to your senses and rejection of emotions are sins flammable. Once they step on the stage and perform, fire rages—scorching all in its path—that nothing could put out. It is a wildfire of artistry where your heart burns, and this is their inferno.

The Great Baptism of Fire

Their world began with fires kept alone and tamed in the cages of their hearts passionate for music and performance, but Agsunta was destined for more. The flames grew larger and wilder, melting the bars that kept the emotions confined. Agsunta then began to bear music fueled with raging emotions, specifically those with “hugot” or narratives of a painful memory, becoming some of the hit songs that burned the hearts of many—marking the great baptism of fire.

It was never our intention for the band and our music to be in the “hugot” route but because most of the songs that we released are sad songs and the people who came to know those songs have their personal heartbreak stories—maybe they were able to patronize our music because of the lyrics that they can relate to in those specific heartbreak moments they have.
-Agsunta

Although souls who longed for warmth have witnessed and experienced the band’s inferno through their music, the arsonists who started the fire remain a mystery to many. On the other hand, its identity has never been strange to Jai, Mikel, Josh, and Stephen. The firestarters lie in their encounters with life circumstances that ignited a spark and led to the eruption of their emotions, which they used to fuel the fire of their music.

All the emotions were coming from all the different experiences of life itself—from being super happy to super down. It’s all just a mixture of both because when life hits you hard, you will learn so much from it. And from that, all the emotions will kick in, naturally.
-Agsunta

The band sees the beauty of genuine emotions freed and expressed—the burning sensation of the inferno that their artistry has created. Every emotion in every situation matters to them, and they believe that each burns and leaves a scar that will constantly remind a person of what and how far one has gone, especially in the flames of a raging romance.

Savor it, experience it, and learn from it. You will never lose in life and in love if you always try to learn from all the experiences, good or bad.
-Agsunta

For a decade, their fire has stood strong and flared up just as how their music continues to resonate and delivers the irony of a comforting sensation and a rampaging emotion to its listeners. As Agsunta continues to enter different eras, it consistently burns hearts and triggers emotions to erupt, baptizing every soul with the fire of its music and artistry.

Agsunta Shoots Flames

Even the hearts that fly in the clouds of their fantasies meet no mercy when the songs of Agsunta start to play. Jai, Mikel, Josh, and Stephen shoot flames across the sky, hitting the hearts aflame and making them fall back into the inferno of authentic emotions. The raging fire of the band’s music strikes in aimless directions—living true to their latest EP: “Kung Sino Tamaan.“

“Kung Sino Tamaan” was a name we came up with because the contents or the messages of the songs included in the album were actually very random. It has some heartbreak songs and fast rock love songs to kinda heavy love songs and also kilig mode love songs, so we thought that “Kung Sino Tamaan” was the perfect name for the EP to cater to all the audiences no matter what era in life they are experiencing.
-Agsunta

The band breathed fire to an extended play that features five tracks: “‘Di Ba Halata,” “Isang Daang Taon,” “IKWPRNGMHLQ,” “Pinagtagpo,” and “Palayain Ka.” Each leaves burns of diverse degrees, cutting open the memories of life encounters in the flames of romance.

“‘Di Ba Halata” sparks a narrative of a persona caught in the scorching heat of a raging love, enough for the heart to reach its melting point, true to its words “Sa init ng yakap mo natutunaw ang puso ko.” “Isang Daang Taon” resonates with a similar story, although taken to another degree of romantic flames that defy even the end of time, leaving a vow: “Kung uulit-ulitin lang ang buhay kong ito, iaalay lang sa’yo
hanggang matapos ang mundo.”

Meanwhile, its third track “IKWPRNGMHLQ” frees a wildfire of emotions as it sings of a romance long kept in the persona’s heart that suddenly erupted, braving all the uncertainties that come after a romantic confession: “Matagal kong tinago ito, kaya isisigaw ko na sa mundo, ikaw lang talaga’ng mahal ko!” On the other hand, “Pangako” recognizes the beautiful spark there is in the flames of fate. It tells the story of two people destined to burn in love together, saying “Dito ka lang. ‘Wag kang mawawala. Hindi mo ba alam? Ito’y walang hanggan.”

But the inferno of emotions that Jai, Mikel, Josh, and Stephen have created burns even the hearts frozen in the coldest blows of goodbyes. The final track “Palayain Ka” reveals a persona trapped in the scorching pain of letting go of a fallen romance while appreciating what had gone: “Salamat sa mga aral na ‘yong dala at itatago ko dito sa puso ko ang lahat pero kailangan nang palayain ka.”

Agsunta, through their songs, threw flames, hitting souls who needed the heat of their inferno—a moment to free the raging emotions from within while letting love spark again on time. Moreover, “Kung Sino Tamaan” has its certain love “patama,” leaving a clear message on the band’s perspective of love.

To those who are capable of loving without expecting anything in return and also if you happen to love someone right now or plan to be in love with someone someday, always remember to love unconditionally—because if not, is that love at all?
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-Agsunta

Adding Fuel to the Fire

While their music continues to flare as it resonates in the hearts of its listeners, Agsunta keeps adding fuel to the fire of its artistry, making its flames grow vibrant in dreams and gratitude. Holding hearts burning with passion, Jai, Mikel, Josh, and Stephen spread their fire until they set the world alight into an inferno of emotions ignited by their music. The band dreams of achieving bigger milestones in the future while maintaining a heart of gratitude in the present.

They let their fire burn the spaces where their music echoes today while blowing harder to slowly let the flames of their artistry step onto the vast stretch of dreams and goals set by their passionate hearts. And of course, they do not spread the fire alone; Agsunta also gives credit to many people who have been fuels to keep their flames burning.

Among those that Jai, Mikel, Josh, and Stephen are most grateful for are the souls who willingly entered the inferno of their music—their fans, family, and friends who have supported them and their artistry from the start. And to even catapult the flaming arrows of their dreams higher, the band partnered with Cornerstone and Cornerstone Music as their record label and co-manager at the same time.

We are so grateful to be in this position [with Cornerstone] that we have. After 10 years of hard work, it feels like a reward for all that hard work that we had. And we will always match and try to have outputs that can be on par with the credibility and prestige of being a Cornerstone artist.
-Agsunta

As the band celebrates a decade of artistry, Agsunta’s fire has touched lives and burned them to their most authentic versions, letting go of the resistance to freely express how they truly feel. The heat of their inferno has matched the degrees of life encounters reflected through the stories that their songs tell their listeners. On the other hand, their flames are yet to reach the grandest of Agsunta’s vision, and so they persist, adding fuel to their fire.

We can say that through the last 10 years, we’ve come so far but not yet to the end goal of what we wanted. That’s why we’re still hungry and we’re always trying to be the best version of ourselves that we can be as the years go by.

-Agsunta

As Agsunta continues to write songs that reflect the stories of many and try to become its best version, the band’s fire sets alight the stages and hearts where its artistry lives. And as long as their music plays, every soul is but a willing visitor from a cloud nine of fantasies and confinement to Agsunta’s inferno of emotions, where the heart burns in its freedom.

Special Thanks to Cornerstone Entertainment Inc.
President: Erickson Raymundo
Vice President: Jeff Vadillo
AVP for Music/Ad & Promo Head: Caress Caballero
Ad & Promo Assistant: Mika Severa
Agsunta’s Handler: Dustin Guillermo