AGALLOCH

Agalloch were formed out of the ashes of doom/death project Aeolachrymae in 1995 and this is the third full length album to date. They hail from Portland Oregon but I have to say from hearing this, the first thought is that this band is from Northern Europe and not from the US at all. The reason for that is this is an emotional album that while bringing together thoughts of acts like Katatonia manages to also bring in black metal and Scandanavian style progressive rock together with atmosphere beyond measure. There are times when the music is quite light in nature, very melodic and almost joyous (notice the word 'almost') while at others it is bleak and nihilistic, with the pressure of the world on top of them all.

One reason that this works so very well is that there are a huge range being employed, there is a real sense of dynamics so for every sorrow there is another deeper to compare it against. The production isn't too heavy handed and the band are more than capable of turning it up and being very heavy indeed or bringing in folk influences and bringing out the acoustic guitars. Extremely emotional and cathartic, this is an album that can be draining in its very intensity and is always powerful.

This is definitely one for those who enjoy their music to be away from the norm, but also with plenty of passion and depth. www.grau.cd

The debut of Agalloch is a surprising find for many who are accustomed to their more "stripped- down" style found on The Mantle and onward. Pale Folklore is a wonderful gem that features many folk and symphonic elements that Agalloch abandoned on their later albums in favor for more post-rock elements.

The obvious attraction of Pale Folklore is the She Painted Fire Across the Skyline suite. The mysterious, repetitive guitar invites us in before taking us on a haunting adventure featuring many moods and styles, but always retaining that trademark "haunting" feel that Agalloch is so good at painting. Other highlights of the album include the epic The Melancholy Spirit and the Opethian As Embers Dress the Sky.

I am tempted to give the album five stars, but John Haughm's vocals bring it down. The black- metal vocals permeate the album. The problem is that only a handful of vocalists can do that style well, and Haughm is not in that handful. He does sing clean on some of the songs, but he has not developed as a vocalist in that regard either.

Easily four stars. A rare style of work. While I do enjoy later Agalloch, their is a yearning inside of me that wishes that they did more material such as this.

An excellent work.

Actually it was first Agalloch album I've listened to, and it took some time to get into its atmosphere. The music here is pretty bleak and cold, a bit of monotonous, but excellently done with some good melodies and sheer winterish atmosphere (which is maintained by slow guitar parts, whicpered/screeched vocals and nature soundscapes).

It opens with a short folk rock instrumental called 'They Escaped the Weight of Darkness'. It's not really sets any moods here and excellentely different from all the rest on this record, but it's still a very nice and interesting thing.

The real Agalloch comes with the second track 'Into the Painted Grey', which is in that gloomy doom/black metal vein which fills the whole LP with its bleakness. This mood continues on the next tracks, 'The Watcher's Monolith', 'Black Lake Niðstång' (which is a perfect 17 minutes long prog metal epic, the highlight here) and 'Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires' (some excellent bass parts here).

The record closes with more mellow track, 'To Drown', which is pretty far from metallic taste of previous songs. Very dark, and so very beautiful track, it ends with lovely, almost symphonic melodies on kinda marchy attitude.

The atmosphere here has really got that kind of beauty and immersion, so you shall be at least intrigued with this work even if you dislike this kind of music. In general, it's a solid album highly recommended for those who are into the experimental side of progressive metal.

9/10

Sure its just an EP, but how can I resist reviewing this and making sure other people hear it. In my opinion, this does not sound anything like Marrow of the Spirit, like some may be expecting. Then again, Agalloch seem to refine and re-imagine their sound from album to album. With this EP I have finally grown accustom to Aesop Dekker's drumming and really come to enjoy his style, whereas before with Marrow of the Spirit I didn't really care for the drum style at first and preferred the drumming on Ashes Against the Grain and The Mantle much more. Now, being only 1 song and only about 21 minutes long, Agalloch still manages to cover a lot of ground here. I especially like the funeral doomish part in the middle and the spoken word parts fit really well. Agalloch is always treading new ground and I cant wait to see what they come up with next.

Agalloch are back with a new EP and the longest single song they have written to date that turns around the brilliant epic masterpiece "Faust" by the famous German writer, artist and politician Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Anybody who cares a tiny little bit for classic litterature should check this author out and especially the tragic play in two parts that inspired Agalloch to create their new masterpiece. To give you an idea of the lyrical content of this release, let me briefly resume the two parts of Goethe's famous play. In the first part, the old scientist, teacher and researcher Heinrich Faust realizes that he had no success in his closed minded career and especially in his private life. He decides to make a pact with Mephisto who transforms him into a young man again. Faust is able to develop a relationship to the young Margarete that soon gets pregnant. But the married woman kills her child as soon as it's born and is driven insane by the drama she is going through. She is condamned to get executed and even Faust can't save her from the final judgement. The second part rather touches cultural topics. Faust tries to satisfy the ideals of the classic era by searching perfection in all kind of abilities but ultimately fails over and over again. He realizes that he can't control the devil he has made the deal with who makes a powerful but egoistic human being out of him and finishes by claiming his soul. I won't tell you how the stories of both parts end and recommand you to read both plays if my description intrigued you a little bit.

Now, let's talk about the music. I was a little bit disappointed by the band's last full length release "Marrow Of The Spirit" that was too cerebral in my opinion and had many unnecessary lengths and lacked of a coherent flow. It surely had its moments but it was rather hard to digest and not easy to get an access to it. "Faustian Echoes" simply resumes everything Agalloch stands for in one single song that may seem complex at first try but that gets better each time you try it out again. This song is a true grower and has a much easier access as the last full length release. Its smooth but not too slow and finds just the right balance.

The song features dark narrative passages that give the track its structure that is divided into several parts just like a theatre play. The overall flow of the track is calm and melancholic. The electric guitar chords as well as the acoustic guitar passages are truly beautiful. They have a dark and depressive touch but are still filled with hope and passion. With the help of decent and not artificially sounding or too dominant keyboard samples, they build up a cinematic and epic atmosphere throughout the entire track. This is cinema for your ears and entirely without symphonic approaches.

The melodic doom parts are sometimes interrupted by some blackened parts with harsh vocals that come as a welcome change of style without taking too much space. The drums get fast and chaotic at those points and fit to the doom tragedy of the lyrical topic. The vocals are atmospheric, grim and intense and are well employed. I would like to hear more vocal efforts of this quality in the extreme metal scene. They sound emotional but professional and don't take too much space.

The instruments play the biggest role in here. Between the calm parts when the instruments are dying away to the short thunderlike epic black metal parts, the song constantly evolves and smoothly changes every few minutes. The different passages are well elaborated through interludes and never seem out of space. The changes are often only small but always follow a clear guiding line and contain enough variation to remain entertaining. The twenty minutes pass very quickly and don't seem too long. It was also a good idea to stop at this point as I feel that everything has been said at the end of the track.

Above all musical innovation is the magic atmosphere of the track that drowns you into a dark fantastic world of shattered dreams and illusions without losing a little glimpse of hope. Agalloch keep the whole thing simple without adding anything too progressive or any avant-garde stuff. This helps a lot to create the atmosphere that is worthy of the great theatre play they were inspired by. The final result finds just the right balance between calm and fast parts, between raw sounds and crystal clear passages, between vocal or narrative and long instrumental parts.

This track is definitely one of the strongest ones this creative American band has ever written. It's truly close to perfection and the track easily pulls you into its spell from the atmospheric introduction on up to the narratiev closure. It's a track to plunge into and it doesn't take much time to get addicted to this musical drug. Just sit down with your earphones in a shady room, give yourself a break and close your eyes and you will easily be aware of the profound greatness of this song. Agalloch don't need an entire album or several tracks to bring their message as this song easily represents everything they need to tell. It will be tough to top this stuff. Any fan should praise this new release and it's also an ideal introduction to anyone that has yet to discover the band.

Originally published on www.metal-archives.com on July 18th of the year 2012.

This will always remain my least favorite Agalloch record for a great deal of reasons but, just as I dislike 'The Wall' for showing that the old Pink Floyd I knew and loved was gone, objectively, I knew that there was some merit and worth on that album... 'Marrow of the Spirit' is no different in that regard, almost word for word. What this album symbolizes for me, is a change from that lovely relaxed style of doom metal that Agalloch used to play, to imitating the heavier style of their contemporaries and technically speaking, this may be one of their best albums yet. But this is technicality at the cost of atmosphere, technicality at the cost of song writing. Nearly gone are the clean vocals, the acoustic guitar, the relaxed atmosphere and the calming ambiance that Agalloch used to exude in earlier releases. So, in order not to gripe too much, on to the songs themselves.

'They Escaped the Weight of Darkness' is nice enough, some atmospheric cello played over the sound water running. Perhaps it goes on too long but it is nice nonetheless.

'Into the Painted Grey' starts off with heavy riffing and blastbeats... A step into the heavier direction for Agalloch that's for sure. It seems like a muddier sound than before, much more distortion and much harder. Harsh vocals come in around 2:45, and they are actually reminiscent of extreme metal. I like the underlying guitar at 3:32, but its overshadowed by the harsh vocals and distorted atmosphere. 5:36 brings the first moment that brings me back to what I love about Agalloch, the gorgeous guitar creating a solemn, somber atmosphere. Unfortunately, the pounding guitars and blasting guitars return and take that away almost as soon as it arrived. The guitars wail around 8:13, this is a nice heavy solo and a nice break from the pounding guitar and drums.

'The Watchers Monolith' while much softer, still gives us harsh vocals with some distortion all around. At around 2:55 I begin to hear the acoustic guitars and clean vocals that made reference back to the days of the band that I know I longed for, this is a much needed passage here. There really are some nice passages in this song, but they are short and never give the listener enough time to really get into them. I feel as though they were added for the simple reason of referencing earlier material in some half witted attempt to please fans rather than for any purpose related to the music itself. To bring in 'The Wall' again (yes I recognize that they are completely different albums), think of how Roger Waters made glowing reference to Syd Barrett while, at the exact same time, showing how this was not the same old band of Syd Barrett. It seemed that, depending on what kind of fan you were, you either felt a sense of longing for 'those good old days' or you got a useless reference to older material that has no real place in the current work. I must say, that I do like the piano passage at the end of the song.

'Black Lake Nidstang' is the longest song on the album and a really good one at that. It starts off as your average doom metal song until around 2:30 when the acoustic guitar comes in. This is really nice! The vocals and relaxed atmosphere early on is nice, little distorted guitars, which is a much needed treat. The tortured vocals at 7:25 are VERY nice, a nice little addition to their sounds, this is GOOD! At arond 12 minutes in some somber keys lead in to a hanting melody followed by some relaxed guitar.More tortured screams arond 14:40 pick the song back up again

The guitar that opens up 'Ghosts of the Midwinter Fires' and it sounds really nice. There is some wonderful keyboard work in this song and on the whole it feels more fluid than its predecessors. It is by no means their most complex or intricate but is, nonetheless, a nice song to listen to.

'To Drown is another nice song for me. It is mostly an instrumental, with only a short passage of vocals in the middle. It gets a bit repetitive towards the end (perhaps if they made this song shorter...), not enough variety but a nice mood nonetheless and some wonderful cello work.

I don't hate this album, but I do think Agalloch has become a shadow of what they once were, which is sad really... They still have some wonderful moments, even some fantastic songs, but what this album lacks, more than anything, is cohesion... This album is too varied, too distorted and too long!

3.5/5 rated down to 3

Agalloch's album, 'Ashes Against The Grain' reaches high but falls just short of its predecessor. An album in which the first half is absolutely astonishing but cannot hold up as well throughout its whole length.

'Limbs opens up the album with a wonderfully dark ambiance. This song feels like a continuous buildup, minute after minute of more tension. Vocals come in around 5 minutes and tension continues to build and then, at 7 minutes, it stops. This is what I love about Agalloch, they know how to use silence very well and sometimes their music sounds equally as powerful in the moments between notes as it does when they are playing. At 7:40 it pounds back with a gorgeous soaring melody, the likes of which I can't even begin to describe. At 8:10 harsh vocals return and bring the song to a close. 'Falling snow is next and this song starts off with one hell of a riff. At 1:21 the vocals come in and kick this song up a few notches. Several style changes precede my favorite moment at around 6 minutes in, when you have the harsh and clean vocals at the same time, creating a wonderful atmosphere, this track ends with that great riff that started it, a very strong track.

'This White Mountain on Which We Stand' is a weaker track (albeit short) that just feels like experimental noise... Nothing noteworthy here. 'Fire Above, Ice Below' starts off with reserved vocals. A lovely sound at 4:43 seconds, very post/ math rock. Some absolutely gorgeous music follows at about 6 minutes, this is Agalloch at its very lightest before 6:35 when they go back into the pounding guitars. The song begins to trail off towards the end but is a great song nonetheless and flows nicely into 'Not Unlike The Waves' which begins with the sound of waves, which soon turns into building guitars until about 55 seconds in when the sound comes in full scale. Unfortunately, all though instrumentally this is one of their stronger tracks, there is little direction or cohesion, which brings me onto the suite 'Our Fortress is Burning' which feels directionless and noisy at times, not the best way to end an album by any means.

It still isn't a bad album, songs 1-5 are near flawless, it's a shame it can't hold up where it really matters... Still a wonderful album that is well worth a listen.

4.25/5

What can I say? If Thick as a Brick and Selling England got me into prog then it was this album that got me into metal (or at least growls). The growls are so relaxed and contained, they don't bother me at all... They even sound beautiful at times.

Before I get into this review, a note, I have rated this album 5 stars but for different reasons than some might be expecting. This is not the kind of music that is here to impress you, there aren't any flashy solos, they don't rely on odd-time signature's or complex musicianship... There's pieces of that here, but underneath what seems to be the central point of the band, the atmosphere and oh my god can these guys do atmosphere. The band creates a dark and cold atmosphere (which is there intention) and unlike many other bands who focus on atmosphere (though it really only feels like a certain ambiance) Agalloch succeeds in making you feel as though they have transported you to that imagined location... They make you feel the atmosphere they have provided.

I know how this must sound, much like those critics who adore James Joyce and pretend as though there is this huge deep masterpiece if other people could just understand... (and maybe there is, I never got that). REGARDLESS, I do apologize if it sounds that way, but for me, the music is the kind that pierces into the very core, it moves me into another world... It is stunning and beautiful and oh so very desolate. I almost didn't want to review this album because of the emotional attachment I had with it but after listening and re-listening as objectively as I could, I decided that it deserved a review purely in its merits. I will try to be objective though, I really will...

On to the songs, 'A Celebration for the Death of Man' is a nice but short intro. It is mostly acoustic and builds into the giant that is,

'In The Shadow of Our Pale Companion' It starts off with acoustic guitars, creating that strong atmosphere I have been raving about, at about 2:10 the harsh vocals come in, but they can easily be understood (better than many clean vocals). The clean vocals 40 minutes later give great contrast to the song. This song has some amazing, evocative vocals "if this grand panorama before me is what you call God. Then God is not dead." It starts to feel as though the song is picking up around 5 minutes but instead the music enters into a solo and weaves around, creating a fantastic sound. -- I've decided that this isn't the kind of music that I can pinpoint all of the song changes, nor the kind where it would matter, the album is so fluid that doing so detracts from the sound that's made throughout. -- A very ethereal sound at 12:00 minutes in, one of my favorite points on this album on what must be one of, if not the, best tracks on the album for me.

'Odal' is an instrumental and if you don't listen carefully, it may seem as though there isn't much going in this song, that being said, there are tones and undertones and it all commingles to create such a gorgeous piece of music, a wonderful song.

'I am The Wooden Doors' is the heaviest track on the cd, the growls are in full effect here. Though this doesn't go against the beautiful atmosphere created on the cd, in fact, in many ways it supports it. A very powerful song, with a very nice guitar solo part way through.

'The Lodge' is amazing, for me that's an understatement. I don't know if I have a song that I've played more or recommended to more people than this short but absolutely brilliant piece of music. It begins with the tapping on a deer's skull to create a hollow and reverberating percussive sound, instruments are brought in along this to create this ethereal, very experimental, piece of music.

'You Were But A Ghost in My Arms' is a giant of a piece with some wonderful guitar work throughout. There is some great interchange between electric / acoustic guitars as well as clean / harsh vocals on this song.

'The Hawthorne Passage' has some wonderful bass work, drum work as well as Trombone work. The song is an instrumental but, even at 11+ minutes it doesn't falter in quality and remains interesting and fresh throughout, a wonderful track.

'... And the Great Cold Death of the Earth' is another song with some fantastic lyrics. "We are the wounds and the great cold death of the earth, darkness and silence, the light shall flicker out"... It's not so much the words themselves but how they are sung that make these lyrics fantastic. Also to note is some great guitar and bass work in this song.

and finally, 'A Desolation Song', a solemn and sad end to a fantastic album (not sad as in bad, but a real deep sadness). We get some interesting instrumentals towards the end of the song as the album comes to a fantastic close.

What can I say that hasn't been said? If you enjoy black or post metal I recommend you check out this album. If you don't like black or post metals or are turned away by harsh vocals then I especially recommend this album.

5/5 stars, an absolute masterpiece.

What can we expect from Agalloch other than pure gold and majesty?

"The Silence Of Forgotten Landscapes" gives us a showcase of what Agalloch can deliver in and off stage.

In this recording there are 2 guitars, bass, and drums, with Haughm on main vocals and guitar. The whole set is filmed in black and white, and while having heavy editing, it does not distract or annoy the viewer in any sense. Haughm is clearly the protagonist, as in all Agalloch, yet the whole band is displayed accordingly.

1. Limbs (10:45): Opening both this live show and their (at that moment) latest album, "Ashes Against The Grain", this songs kicks in with a lot of power and ambience, trademark of the band. The guitar work is tremendous, featuring both clean and distorted guitars. The ending is fascinating, intense and memorable. (5/5)

2. Falling Snow (8:54): A song that many may find "commercial" or at least far from the usual Agalloch, it is delivered really well, especially the nu-metal-ish end section. (4/5)

3. As Embers Dress the Sky (4:33): An Agalloch classic, recurrent in their shows, once again demonstrates the amazing guitar work and songwriting of Haughm's school. (4/5)

4. Dead Winter Days (7:11): Another song from their debut album "Pale Folklore", with particularly enjoyable lyrics and singing in this live recording. (4/5)

5. I Am the Wooden Doors (5:36): From their sophomore "The Mantle", a heavy track with pulverizing drum beats, that really showcases Agalloch's possibilities. (5/5).

6. In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion (12:11): Probably the second highlight of the show (being the last song the main one), this epic song from their second album "The Mantle" let us witness the whole world of Agalloch. The classic guitars, the growls, the deep choirs (Ahhhhh), and all the folky power that never dissapoints. Notably, this recording features a change in the middle section. While the original recording has slow, folk classic guitars in a really ambient bridge, this one replaces this with guitar riffs more common in post-black metal circles. Many may be dissapointed, as the original bridge is one of Agalloch's best moments, it definitely does not suck in anyway, and in exchange, brings a new look at the song. Anyway, the song in general is beautiful, truly the best from Agalloch. (5/5)

7. Not Unlike the Waves (9:41): From the (back then) latest album "Ashes...", this track is a really strong one, in terms of riffing, ambience and vocals. Truly enjoyable. (4/5)

8. Bloodbirds (11:19): Now. In their album "Ashes...", the last track is called "Our Fortress Is Burning", which is divided in 3 sections. The first one is instrumental, prominently featuring clean guitars. The second one, Bloodbirds, is the closing of the whole album, a storm of deep dark metal, truly the best of the band so far. And the las one, The Grain, is a dark ambient instrumental track, like 7 minutes of electronic and haunting sounds. In this live recording, Agalloch plays the first two. It stars warmly, with captivating musicianship. As Bloodbirds begin, you can feel something building up (just like the flow of the song), and as the final part is reached, and Haughm delivers his directly-from-hell-yet-wildly-desperate-and-desolate vocals, the whole concert is crushed and destroyed by the dark chords being played. A minimalistic, epic, post-dark-metal journey. Without a doubt, the best moment recorded live in these parts of the metal world. (5/5).

At the end, there is a destructive "coda", if you let me. Haughm and the rest bang their instruments, hitting and beating them while the last chord from Bloodbirds keeps playing. This may be referent to "The Grain", yet it clearly shows the chaotic yet graceful nature of Haughm's work.

Divine. (4.5/5)

Picture the Decemberists adding death metal to their sound and you have a rough sketch of what THE MANTLE is (Agalloch might be creepier). Come to thought, it makes almost perfect sense if you think of both bands having similar bases but going off in different volume directions and each band finding its own niche in progressive folk.

There's sense involved if you call THE MANTLE a ''post-metal'' album simply because that post-rock niche sound is on display in the cracks here. But the album is moreso folk and metal almost to the point where neither main genre completely dominates. There are plenty of acoustic guitars running about, but the electric guitars have more folky patterns to them as opposed to metal riffs. The metal comes from the volume and the grunts from John Haughm.

I can best describe the mood of the album as sombre and cold, but not completely aloof. It's dark in the ''it gives me goosebumps'' sort; nothing at all to do with depressing, gothic or creepy atmospheres even if I'm thinking ''wicked'' in spots. THE MANTLE bases itself around the mood and sometimes the tension and never focuses on histrionics, something that good albums from this prog sub-section do well.

The lengths of the songs are too tiresome due to how the mood and ''riffs'' (can't find a more suitable word) develop which bolsters two of the centrepiece tracks (''The Hawthorne Passage'' and ''In the Shadow Of Our Pale Comparison''). I would vote for ''The Lodge'' as the strongest track with the floating guitar lines over the top and the odd percussion (according to the credits, it's a deer antler; can't get more folk than that) hit the target spot. The closing track has an accordion(?) in it that makes me think Decemberists again. ''Odal'' and ''Great Cold Death of the Earth'' are the other highlight tracks.

Really, this folk/metal hybrid works quite fluidly and beautifully. If only there was more strength in the vocal department (where comparisons to Comus make sense), then I could really see THE MANTLE hitting new heights.