Metal Reviews

I'd say this could be the start of something here.

Agalloch, undoubtedly one of those historically significant titles dug up from way beyond, has with "Pale Folklore," created one of the most stirring Black Metal masterpieces I've heard in a long time.

Restoring my faith in an art that's become quickly encumbered by amateurish prototypes here for a moment, gone the next, this group was bore from the dismemberment of a former creation from their two founding members, "Pale Folklore" may well be the sleeper hit for Nordic Metal's next generation.

Be forewarned that the disc does contain eight tracks, not the six indicated on the back cover, less you'll be missing out on another twenty minutes worth of this enchanting trip through the descending darkness. Echoing with mournful chants, sorrowful sound effects and tightly arranged harmonics, amidst a backdrop of pure gloom and poor production quality, there's not a thing "pale" about this album.

By the second song in, "The Misshapen Steed," I'm convinced this is a hybrid of early Fields of the Nephilim and Anathema fronted by dissimilarly sadistic wails and plenty of song-writing prowess to impress the latest legion of Goth followers and send them shivering to their early graves.

Released by The End Records: http://www.theendrecords.com/
The End Records
331 Rio Grande #58
SLC, UT 84101 USA
Fax: (801) 355-3091
E-Mail: theend@theendrecords.com

Review by Vinnie Apicella.

Agalloch is the epitome of a cool Autumn night, dark sky, foreboding winds rustling the dry leaves, a prelude to something wicked approaching in the distance…

Their follow up to the impressive "Pale Folklore" release of a couple years back is a five track EP featuring three unreleased songs from back in '98, a cover of "Kneel to the Cross" originally done a decade ago by Sol Invictus, and "A Poem By Yeats," inspired by the writings of one William Butler Yeats.

The opening title track comes across a bit unsettling as one might expect a still youthful
band in their crude form, the vocals are mired in Death while the surrounding music, while still capturing their atmospheric necessity, embarks on a considerably louder more forceful path.

"Foliorum Viridium" is a classically inspired instrumental piece, quite opposite to its predecessor, quite majestic with a bit of a haunted trajectory, while "Haunting Birds" concludes the three earliest moments here again in instrumentally folk-like fashion, typical of their last full length, a finely blended mix of Celtic tradition and Goth-inspired Death march.

"Kneel to the Cross," the cover, is at first uplifting, arranged in verse like a dead-ringer for new model Amorphis, in fact the entire song carries forth that very same melodic/folk design, comparative to their "My Kantele" EP of a few years ago… the entire recording in the vein of previously established names as My Dying Bride or Anathema.

At journey's end, the "Poem" is the real capper here, lengthy and lavish, it opens with a subtle touch of keyboards, soothing, sometimes chilling, a look back in time, desperate and melancholic, the opening keys interrupted with a quick percussive strike, before symphonic roles are established, nearly chamber in effect, the singing, gently haunting, moving purposefully from out of the past in tributary recall-an inspired creation that does proud the name from which it borrows.

From beginning to end, the listener is offered a quick glimpse into the short career of a band, built upon the high arches of European Gothic architecture but very much establishing a deserved respect for the American scene.

Released by The End Records: http://www.theendrecords.com/
The End Records
331 Rio Grande #58
SLC, UT 84101 USA
Fax: (801) 355-3091
E-Mail: theend@theendrecords.com

Review by Vinnie Apicella.