Agalloch

[JaadCe]

better than Saturnus...yes they are..but Saturnus are damn good. (mostly there non-doom stuff actually) (suprised anyone outside Denmark knows them) Saturnus is brilliant..I love it.

 

[Minion520]

"Agalloch is just a doom metal band" "Agalloch is no different than any other gothic/dark metal band"....christ guys, he's in a fucking band....if the guy loves his music and is real into cinema, then let him remain with those thoughts. Everyone on here is an asshole in their own way ...we're all assholes. Musicians are pissed off assholes. But to get to the real point here...Agalloch is way different then all doom/gothic bands around nowadays. They're better than mourning beloveth, sins of thy beloved, saturnus, avernus, all my faith lost, woods of ypres, dark suns...all of them. They one of the only metal related American bands left that really do it for me. Pale Folklore is a masterpeice, not too many records sound like the Agalloch records. Let them be masters of the current unique metal art. Thank you.

work it dreadful, work it

 

[Illnath]

better than Saturnus...yes they are..but Saturnus are damn good. (mostly there non-doom stuff actually) (suprised anyone outside Denmark knows them) Saturnus is brilliant..I love it.

Are you going to see them play here on the 6th of May?

 

[sweet majestic darkness]

I like listening to Agalloch when I want something to zone out to. I can handle the vocals, I think they even fit the musics dark atmosphere. I have only have The Mantle, I'd like to hear the other one.

 

[Mayberry's Finest]

Agalloch is one of my favourite bands ever.. I have no problem with the clean vocals whatsoever. They fit the music 100%

Agreed. Haughm's voice sounds pretty haunting and has this very cold and distant feel to it. I think any person who is trying to get into Agalloch should check out the Sol Invictus cover they did called Kneel the Cross. There's something about that song that I can't seem to get enough of. Also the build-up to the climactic sweep riff in The Shadow of Our Pale Companion is what hooked me on the band. Reading this thread is enough for me to want to play The Mantle in Winamp.

 

[Mayberry's Finest]

if words are useless why would he spent time writing lyrics? i think we would all be better off without that horrendous voice baffling in the mic...

I do think there is a difference between using words to create lyrics rather than labeling. I could write lyrics that could leave many things open to interpretation where as labeling something is pretty finite and restricting. Try labeling Opeth for example. You can get a vague sense of what the music is like without taking into account the nuiances within a song, album, or entire discography. I'm not sure if memory serves me right but Mikael hasn't really given the band a definite label and I assume he leaves that up to the public to make the decision on. As for Haughm I don't know if he's a pretentious cock or not but I'm not going to assume he is just because he's reluctant to pigeonhole his band's output. Personally, I'd much rather use words to create an atmosphere similar to that which I devise in my own head when listening to Agalloch than waste my time trying to come up with a label. Yeah, it'd be nice to have a general synopsis of what the music style is but people have already done that for Agalloch so why should he bother? I hate to sound fruity but the best way I can sum up my argument is this: Lyrics are like different paint strokes and colors that are used in context with other colors and textures to create a work of art. Genre labeling pretty much makes up your mind for you and limits interpretatoin.

Sorry if that's redundant but I'm really drained after a 10 hour shift and this about the best you're going to get out of me.

Btw, Haughm's voice is superior and you're a fuckwit for not liking it.

 

[Mayberry's Finest]

He's basically right about not really being able to explain music in that interview. There are two usual ways to describe music. 1.) Comparison to other bands. 2.) Vague adjectives, that when used in the context of a certain genre, recall sounds of other bands. Neither of these ways use words to express the music, they rely on the other person recalling things from memory. These are perfectly fine and good ways to describe music, but they really only help people to make associations.

He's also right that metal has gotten mostly worse since 1996-7. 89-96 are the peak years, and depending on personal tastes, one could argue that any of those years is the best, probably.

Agreed. Christ, I wish I would've read this sooner. I would've saved myself some effort.

 

[Risquit]

Agalloch is good for background music as you're falling asleep. For active listening, its hard to get past the repetitiveness.

 

[Mayberry's Finest]

No, I wasn't joking. READ WHAT YOU FUCKING SAID. "Black metal bands were finishing up and making their last decent release....death metal was starting to finish up as well." Hmm! Let's examine a common bond in those two statements....you're talking about these newest genres of metal ENDING. The bands putting out their last great releases. Can you honestly compare that with the mid to late 80s? Like it or not, that WAS the best period for metal, in terms of quality bands, releases, originality and musicianship. Slayer, Metallica, Morbid Angel, Cynic, the entire Bay Area thrash scene, the emergence of death metal. By far the most productive and innovative time for metal. Please don't try to argue that fucking 1996 was a better year for metal, because if that's what you think, you probably have Down's Syndrome. sorry brah.

Um, I wouldn't lump the Florida death metal scene in with the NWOAHM movement that Metallica/Megadeth etc. brought about. There's also no mention acknowledging of the contributions of bands like Possessed, Mercyful Fate, and Venom...not that it really matters in the grand scheme of things. Each genere and bands associated within the genre had different points of influence in the span of metal history. Innovation aside it's personal taste that dictates what you or any other person would consider the best period in metal. Personally, I think metal peaked at around that time because the innovations of the Bay Area Thrashers became cliches, the traditional death metal movement was already mature by that point and the 2nd wave of death and black metal was hitting a 'peak' period. What was left for the bands to follow that time period to do other than just further expound upon things that had already been done? I'd have to say that the early metal bands made metal a genre to be recognized and the bands that followed made the genre a viably artistic and fairly refined genre.

 

[Mayberry's Finest]

god dammit do i have to do it with this too?

THEIR = POSSESSIVE (THEIR HOUSE)
THERE = LOCATION (OVER THERE)
THEY'RE = THEY ARE (THEY'RE ABOUT TO KICK YOUR ASS IF YOU SAY "THERE SO COOL" ONE MORE GODDAMN TIME)

::gets out pen and paper:: Better make note of this..::writes away::

((don't kill me for using sentence fragments and no punctuation))


<---I need to go to bed before I become even more retarded.

 

[Scourge of Malice]

why would you judge an album on "strictly musical terms" ??

lately pale folklore has been owning my life... "the melancholy spirit" is possibly one of the greatest songs I've ever heard

 

[Brains for breakfast]

god dammit do i have to do it with this too?

THEIR = POSSESSIVE (THEIR HOUSE)
THERE = LOCATION (OVER THERE)
THEY'RE = THEY ARE (THEY'RE ABOUT TO KICK YOUR ASS IF YOU SAY "THERE SO COOL" ONE MORE GODDAMN TIME)

Well, I'm sorry that you're such an grammar nazi. There are people who don't have English as their first language.

Better?

 

[cthulufhtagn]

meh yeah, i know i'm a grammar nazi and sometimes i forget we're not all originally english speakers here, but in my experience it tends to be the native speakers that get those confused the most

 

[Crimson Death]

Agreed. Haughm's voice sounds pretty haunting and has this very cold and distant feel to it. I think any person who is trying to get into Agalloch should check out the Sol Invictus cover they did called Kneel the Cross. There's something about that song that I can't seem to get enough of. Also the build-up to the climactic sweep riff in The Shadow of Our Pale Companion is what hooked me on the band. Reading this thread is enough for me to want to play The Mantle in Winamp.

Totally agreed.

One of the best bands I love.

 

[Sanzen]

Totally agreed.

One of the best bands I love.

pfffft, whatever. if you want some doom metal that kicks agalloch's ass, you guys should listen to early Matchbox 20. then you'll see.

 

[Crimson Death]

pfffft, whatever. if you want some doom metal that kicks agalloch's ass, you guys should listen to early Matchbox 20. then you'll see.

The fact you can't hold a solid arguement makes you a moron and a diaper full of poo.

 

[cthulufhtagn]

pfffft, whatever. if you want some doom metal that kicks agalloch's ass, you guys should listen to early Matchbox 20. then you'll see.

man that's amateur shit, you should hear maroon 5's first demo, "the solemn incantations of death's funeral", totally slays matchbox 20...those guys totally sold out too, they turned all commercial. m5 will always be tr00.

 

[Mac Attack]

meh yeah, i know i'm a grammar nazi and sometimes i forget we're not all originally english speakers here, but in my experience it tends to be the native speakers that get those confused the most

No foolin. I knew a German exchange student who had never spoken English before her 13th birthday. She got the top class rank in her comp class at my high school, which I am glad to say I was not a part of. Had I been in that class, I'd have good reason to be embarassed.

We Americans are dumbasses.

 

[Dreadful]

labeling Agalloch anything is an understatement...same with Opeth.

 

[NFU]

i think its fairly easy to label Agalloch. Opeth, not quite as easy. But i wouldnt say either band is impossible to label.