AGALLOCH - The Grey EP
Vendlus Records, 2004
www.vendlus.com
From release to release Agalloch proved to be unexpected and untrackable on their musical path. No release sounds like its predecessor, as From Which of This Oak (their demo) was similar to Ulver's Bergtatt, in the black metal depths, Pale Folklore, their first full length album was to doom/dark metal/black metal as Deicide are to death metal, Of Stone, Wind, and Pillor EP presented 3 old tracks from an unreleased 7" and a cover to the neo-folk band Sol Invictus, after this EP the band's keyboard player, Breyer left and silence remained for a long time. In 2002 they released their masterpiece, The Mantle, a work of delicate craft where every sound is purposeful and musical patterns are hidden around almost every turn, moving from black metal to doom to folk/neo-folk and progressive rock. After The Mantle the band stepped aside quietly and released only a series of EPs, played their first live shows and toured with The Gathering and November's Doom. Tomorrow Will Never Come, their 7" on The End Records' sublabel, Infinite Vinyl was a stripped slower tempo version of the intro to The Mantle and an acoustic piece with talking samples from a movie and unnerving effects done in the background. The Grey EP released through Vendlus Records gave a glimpse to an odd musical direction, unexpected yet again of the Portland, Oregon visionaires.
First track of The Grey EP is The Lodge (Dismantled), refering to the fifth track from The Mantle, a semi-acoustic instrumental piece that sounds nothing like this 'rendition' except for a few riffs here and there, expanding it from 5 minutes to 12. This track displays an out of turn step for Agalloch (from the eyes of this reviewer atleast...), to a post-rock direction, and features the first recording with their new drummer (at the time of this release). With the addition of a drummer Agalloch seem more playful drumwise. Track ends with guitar distortion and feedbacks being dragged for 2-3 minutes.
Second track here is Odal (Nothing remix), which refers to the third song on The Mantle, instrumental as well, and points to Nothing, the ambient noise solo band of JWW, Agalloch's bass player, this doesn't sound like the epic Odal at all but it has its own epic way, as far as an ambient noise song can go, moving through various soundscapes. From my point of view this song abandoned the nature feel the original song had and went for a more journey feel, closer to material like the seventh song from The Mantle, The Howthorne Passage, instrumental as well.
None of these songs probably display the future path of Agalloch, neither does their new neo-folk split with Finland's Naturewave band Nest. As time passes they seem to either mud the traces of their earlier works or just build various balconies in the tower that is Agalloch. A companion release to The Grey EP titled The White EP will be released through Vendlus Records after their next album, probably continuing a path of musical deceit.
9/10
Crimson Death
Vendlus Records, 2004
www.vendlus.com
From release to release Agalloch proved to be unexpected and untrackable on their musical path. No release sounds like its predecessor, as From Which of This Oak (their demo) was similar to Ulver's Bergtatt, in the black metal depths, Pale Folklore, their first full length album was to doom/dark metal/black metal as Deicide are to death metal, Of Stone, Wind, and Pillor EP presented 3 old tracks from an unreleased 7" and a cover to the neo-folk band Sol Invictus, after this EP the band's keyboard player, Breyer left and silence remained for a long time. In 2002 they released their masterpiece, The Mantle, a work of delicate craft where every sound is purposeful and musical patterns are hidden around almost every turn, moving from black metal to doom to folk/neo-folk and progressive rock. After The Mantle the band stepped aside quietly and released only a series of EPs, played their first live shows and toured with The Gathering and November's Doom. Tomorrow Will Never Come, their 7" on The End Records' sublabel, Infinite Vinyl was a stripped slower tempo version of the intro to The Mantle and an acoustic piece with talking samples from a movie and unnerving effects done in the background. The Grey EP released through Vendlus Records gave a glimpse to an odd musical direction, unexpected yet again of the Portland, Oregon visionaires.
First track of The Grey EP is The Lodge (Dismantled), refering to the fifth track from The Mantle, a semi-acoustic instrumental piece that sounds nothing like this 'rendition' except for a few riffs here and there, expanding it from 5 minutes to 12. This track displays an out of turn step for Agalloch (from the eyes of this reviewer atleast...), to a post-rock direction, and features the first recording with their new drummer (at the time of this release). With the addition of a drummer Agalloch seem more playful drumwise. Track ends with guitar distortion and feedbacks being dragged for 2-3 minutes.
Second track here is Odal (Nothing remix), which refers to the third song on The Mantle, instrumental as well, and points to Nothing, the ambient noise solo band of JWW, Agalloch's bass player, this doesn't sound like the epic Odal at all but it has its own epic way, as far as an ambient noise song can go, moving through various soundscapes. From my point of view this song abandoned the nature feel the original song had and went for a more journey feel, closer to material like the seventh song from The Mantle, The Howthorne Passage, instrumental as well.
None of these songs probably display the future path of Agalloch, neither does their new neo-folk split with Finland's Naturewave band Nest. As time passes they seem to either mud the traces of their earlier works or just build various balconies in the tower that is Agalloch. A companion release to The Grey EP titled The White EP will be released through Vendlus Records after their next album, probably continuing a path of musical deceit.
9/10
Crimson Death
