I can't believe no one is talking about this album... i've been patiently waiting for a new full length Agalloch album for too long... WAY too long. this album isnt "The Mantle Returns!" its absolutely deep and atmospheric and totally Agalloch. This is definitely one of the top 3 releases of this year so far and probably the entire year so get your hands on this ASAP.

I think it's extremely boring and that song "Falling Snow" is gayer than a unicorn at a tupperware party.

The Mantle was better.

DrinkHardThrashHard said:

hahah...best quote ever

Ha, I love Falling Snow! It's like a tasteful Old Dead Tree song with the Agalloch treatment. It doesn't really fit on the album because it's pretty happy, but as a single I think it's great! They've said all along that this album was going to see them take a more post-rock route, and they backed up those words pretty solidly. I'm a longtime fanboy so I give it an A+!

the mantle is amazing...

AGALLOCH
Official website: http://www.agalloch.org
The Pacific Northwest’s AGALLOCH – who’s long-awaited and much-anticipated new album ‘Ashes Against The Grain’ is out August 8th, 2006 on THE END RECORDS -- now have an official website.
A statement from AGALLOCH reads:
“Agalloch finally have an official website: http://www.agalloch.org
We extend our gratitude to Donald Bellenger for his excellent work.
The band has also filmed a video for the song "Not Unlike The Waves" with director N! icole Phillips, DP Richard Stark, and camera operators Richard Stark and Juan Mosqueda. It is currently in the editing process. Over nine hours of footage was shot in three days and the results are quite stunning thus far. To film aficionados, the style of the video will call to mind the work of Ingmar Bergman, Mario Bava, and the German Expressionist movement.”
The band also has a few live dates posted at the Tour section below

I don't think the album as a whole is awful, just mediocre, but in a time when so many excellent records are emerging, I just don't have time to spare for such an overrated, boring band. They have definitely pussied out, but it's one of those cases in which you could see it coming a mile away. It's Opeth all over again, but not on my dime.

Old Dead Tree > Agalloch

EDIT: Why the hell is YES so good?

jon from agalloch is a cool shit.He stayed in NH for a summer like 6 or 7 years ago(i think he said he was from oregon) and was a dishwasher @ a restaurant i was working at.I think i still have an old demo he gave me somewhere.

dwellingsickness said:

i second that

i like it but i think i like almost anything else they have more

i tried to like this band after hearing the hype but .... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

definitely a zzzzzzzzzzzz

I disagree. This was a completely solid album. There have been some really good releases this year but this is one of the better. To each their own I guess.

yeah, cause the mantle is one of my favorite CDs. then again, I like current 93 and nature and the organisation

I like YES.

A lot.

what are some of these great releases you all speak of?

i'm sick as fuck (thanks, God... you fucking PRICK) so i'm a bit foggy, but here's some of my favorites so far this year:

Starkweather - Croatoan
Heresi - Psalm II: Infusco Ignis
From the Entrails to the Dirt comp (just for the 20 minute Deathspell Omega track)
Isis - Live vol. 4
Peeping Tom
Enslaved - Ruun

I know I'm missing a fuckton, but that's the NyQuil for ya.

DrinkHardThrashHard said:

yeah... some of my friends that like weird 70's music even kind of make fun of my Yes loving.

If you like the new starkweather, but not agalloch, you must really dig the way that starkweather sometimes sounds like stone temple pilots.

GoatOfCatalyst said:

Well, I could list 100 this year so far that I like better than Agalloch, right off the top of my head.

TheGreatSpaldino said:

They're so happy but in the strangest way, and so exhilirating. They can all play like maniacs, but never overplay. I can find YES songs from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s, and 00s that I like...

DrinkHardThrashHard said:

100? I will see your 100! Actually I would be curious about your top 20.

Well, they are all over the place, most of them are not the same style as Agalloch. But here are some of my favorite 2006 metal releases, as per your request:

Drudkh - Blood in Our Wells
Carpathian Forest - Fuck You All
Summoning - Oath Bound
Voivod - Katorz
Ajattara - Apare
Anata - The Conductor's Departure
Beyond Twilight - For the Love of Art and the Making
Repugnant - Epitome of Darkness
Tankard - Beauty and the Beer
T.O.O.H. - Order and Punishment
Yrkoon - Unhealthy Opera
Darkthrone - The Cult is Alive
Enslaved - Ruun
Gory Blister - Skymorphosis
Ministry - Rio Grande Blood
Leatherwolf - World Asylum
Sodom - Sodom
Ghoul - Splatterthrash
Bestial Mockery - Gospel of the Insane
Emeth - Reticulated
The Legion - Revocation
Obsession - Carnival of Lies

Who knows, you might like some of them.

DTHT - I absolutely agree on that Drudkh. Fucking phenomenal.

And Rev... sounds like you're going fishing...

FOR A SLAP!!!

PS - Rev, if you're coming down to the Pale Horse / COA / Hammer Bros show tonight... would you be a sport and bring some of whatever that was you were smoking at 7:04 last night? Shit must have been KILLER for you to type such hogwash!!!

how have you all heard their new album already? i am not a huge agalloch fan, but i will give it a shot. i don't like the guys voice, the drummer is sloppy, and the solos are outta key. but, there is a vibe there, that maybe i just still haven't gotten yet. either way, i still want to hear it!

Promos, I'm guessing (at least for me).

dyingmuse said:

its called the internet, Dan... its powered by doo-dads and magic whachamacallits and you can get music and porno from it! :p

Agalloch is so doomy, i cant believe you dont like them! oh well... its all good. i kind of know what you mean about their drummer being sloppy. live he was tight. i think it was the production of The Mantle that made him sound off. he is tight on the new one. the new one is also MORE doomy than The Mantle. so you might dig it. also... i have the new Saturnus, if you want that. just give me an IM on AIM. the album destroys Martyre and even their old stuff. such a great release.

I don't think the new Agalloch is even remotely doomy.

the thing about doom is that it doesnt have to be at 2 bpm to be doom. Cryptal Darkness has uber fast blasting and really upbeat songs and they are doom. the depressive nature of the music and the brooding atmosphere makes this doomy. 7 minutes and on in the song "Limbs" is TOTAL doom. there are other parts that are textbook doom and even funeral doom-esque. i guess its mainly opinon but whatever... its all good.

Well, for me, doom is music that actually makes me feel doomed. Electric Wizard. Old Sabbath. The Obsessed. Cathedral. I have felt doomed when listening to each.

"Ashes Against the Grain" makes me feel like a bouquet of flowers, or like playing with the dolphins at Sea World.

i haven't heard the new one yet, but they've never disappointed me, so i am really looking forward to it. i think they have a new drummer, maybe it's the guy they had on tour, because as far as i know, the sloppy drumming on all their recordings was done by haughm.

I do need to get my hands on this. Great band. I always hear Opeth comparisons but Agalloch do it wayyyyy better and bring enough progression and atmosphere to the table that Opeth comparisions are null and void these days....

Who was at that Agalloch show with The Gathering at the Middle East? That was fucking ace... My comrade dubbed it and it sounds pretty damned good.

Hallways of Enchanted Ebony has to be one of my favorites of thier and live it was fucking breathtaking.

Breathtaking? What the fuck?
Sorry, I just woke up and I'm feeling emo.

The Gathering is amazing, I even follow that band through their ongoing post-rock phase.

I don't like Agalloch more than the old Opeth records, but definitely more than the past three. I think some comparisons are valid there, they both have a pretty similar approach. But not a clone.

i was at that agalloch/the gathering show. the gathering's set was one of the best live performances i ever saw.

I remember their set at Milwaukee Metalfest, I think it was their first N. American appearance but I could be wrong.

Anneke's voice filled every corner of that auditorium. Everywhere, you could not escape it. I think their newest record at that time was the double 'How to Measure a Planet'.

I still love this band, the new album 'Home' is awesome.

I'm not into The Gathering, really and that other doom band that played the Middle East show sucked. I cant remember their name for the life of me but it was boring as well...

Agalloch stole that show IMO.

Novembers Doom.

Novembers Doom is pretty boring.

whatever, i went for novembers doom, to each his own i guess. INMO i thought Novembers Doom stole that show!

and agalloch was boring as well as the gathering.

the gathering were good on always and even Mandilion but after that, just all sounded the same to me. now her voice is pretty awesome though. but if we are talking about female singers, the third and the mortals first 3 records were boss!

dyingmuse said:

Yes! Have you heard Skumring yet?

no, is Karri on that? now you have my attenion!!!!

Nope, not Kari, but the girl from Fallen (Cecilie or something) and the dudes from Funeral doing some killer gothic funeral doom. They put out a record last year on Aftermath and it's as close to the early 3rd and the Mortal stuff that I've heard.
http://www.myspace.com/skumring

fuckin' A I have to hear that, Funeral are bad assed! they have a new album and a reissue double cd too!
I am going to search for it now!

Ha, you beat me to editing their myspace page into my last post.

i just ordered the cd from the end, not bad actually...only $11.29
should be here in a few days. ohh they have a myspace? what's the addy?

and spaldin, the new Saturnus is great "veronica decides to die" right? it's bad assed!

http://www.myspace.com/skumring

sweet

3rd and the mortal is great.

dyingmuse said:

yeah. that album makes my wee wee really happy.

ha ha ha, mine too!

oh and i forgot to mention like... in my first post.

"Our Fortress is Burning II: Bloodbirds" is awesome.

just got the skumring in the mail today! it's awesome i just ordered Fallen, a side project from the funeral guys it's funeral doom in the vain of Tristitia meets shape of despair there's a free mp3 up at aftermath music everyone should check it!

I heard one song off this and it sounded great to me.

The drumming is sloppy on their albums because Haughm did the drum tracks on those recordings. They had a live drummer and he joined the band and recorded the drums for this album I'm pretty sure. But yeah, Pale Folklore and The Mantle at least were all Haughm drumming, and in my opinion his drumming is perfect for those albums.

that Fallen track is top notch. great find Dan. and the new Agalloch still owns.

thanks dude!
i still haven't heard thye agalloch yet when's the release date?

For some reason, I can't seem to get into their newer stuff.. it's no Pale Folklore..

Ajattara kicks ass \m/

I like the new AGALLOCH a lot, still need to get the new SATURNUS, they've always been a favorite.

Is the MAR DE GRISES CD out yet?

just picked this up. reeeeally like it.

only pale folklore is real