THE WHITE EP

I've waited some time since first wanting to review this EP to put my thoughts on record. From the first listen Agalloch conveyed something really special here. The White EP collects a variety of dark folk and ambient works written by the band over the past several years. This EP offers Agalloch a chance to depart from their usual sound and present us with material in a vein we will most likely never hear on a full length release.

There were two significant things which struck me about this release besides the quality of the songwriting. First, despite dropping the sound that has defined Agalloch since their inception, The White EP sounds completely like Agalloch. From the opening chords of The Isle of Summer, you can hear Agalloch's undeniable stamp on the song which like always carries you from the doldrums of normal life and immerses you in nature. To draw an unwelcome comparison to Opeth, Agalloch succeed with their acoustic release while Opeth failed (in my opinion) because without their death metal/folk mix, Damnation lost the Opeth feel. However The White has done no such thing. Next and almost as important, The White EP plays as an album unlike The Grey EP and Tomorrow Will Never Come which felt like nothing more than a collection of a few songs. However, what we have here I deem as necessary listening for any Agalloch fan to really experience the growth of the band. All the songs even seem to be loosely tied together through the use of spoken word sections sampled from some movie I cannot identify.

With all of that said, I have surprisingly little to say about the music. Excluding a single song, we find no vocals in the traditional sense, just some spoken word and whispers. Despite containing none of their metal elements, it is safe to say that this record will connect with any Agalloch fan. Also, I can imagine it having significant appeal to fans of post-rock unable to deal with Agalloch's vocals and to some folk fans. Overall, the key to accepting this EP lies in your ability to appreciate the atmosphere it creates. Like any other Agalloch release, if you miss the atmosphere, you've missed the point.