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Agalloch: The white
24/02/09 || Smalley
To change or not to change… that is the question. Whether it is better for a band to suffer the wrath of a fan base by allowing their sound to evolve, or to stay put musically and stick with what’s familiar, becoming stale in the process… there’s the rub. Fortunately, despite the constant experimentation on each new album, whether it be the quasi-black metal on debut “Pale Folklore”, the more prominent folk flavor of “The Mantle”, or the cleaner prog metal style heard on “Ashes Against The Grain”, Portland’s Agalloch has had basically zero problems in switching up their sound and keeping it fresh, while also maintaining the integrity and personal identity that matter so much in the metal community. “The White” comes as another stepping stone in this band’s journey, perhaps a more minor one, being just an EP, and with a limited amount of pressings at that, but it is a welcome one nonetheless.
On “The White”, Agalloch does away with almost all the heavy riffing of their past releases, and carries the acoustic part of their sound farther than ever before. Sure, there’s some electric guitar action to be heard here, but it’s usually in the form of mild, atmospheric soloing/strumming, and is almost never the main focus of a track. Instead, the songs here are propelled by rich acoustic guitars, ever winding around one another, and alternately sounding either relaxed or energetic, but always remaining a pleasure.
In addition to those conventional instruments, plus the expected samples of nature sounds (well, expected if you know Agalloch), there also a few musical surprises on “The White”; ambient electronic effects that are integrated within the music (whereas Agalloch previously kept them completely separate), distorted, ethereal chanting, lengthy dialogue samples taken straight from 1973’s The Wicker Man, and even an accordion sees use here! And although these touches don’t quite revolutionize Agalloch’s sound, they’re nice to hear anyway, and show that Agalloch is a band very interested in challenging their listeners by trying new directions.
Besides “Birch White”, where front man John Haughm recites the A.S.J. Tessimond poem of the same name, “The White” is lacking in traditional vocal work (the kind with lyrics, I mean). Instead, the aforementioned chanting is the kind of vocals you’ll be hearing the most here, if you’re hearing any at all, and along with the numerous and lengthy musical lulls (not to say things get boring, they just calm down a bit), music lines that transition and continue onward between songs, and the overall relaxed nature of the record, “The White” can be somewhat of a confusing listen. You may find yourself thinking… “Where am I on the disc? Did they switch, or am I still listening to the same track? Where the hell’s the sense of progression here?”. I had these same thoughts during my first few run-throughs of “The White”, despite the short (for Agalloch) length of it’s tracks, and I have to admit, listening to the record without pause can be almost like floating through an endless, shapeless, mass of music for thirty-two minutes.
However, I’ve come to realize that that’s what Agalloch intended with this EP; they wanted to make a relaxing record, one you could put in, let play, and just enjoy. They wanted, perhaps needed, to record something different from the epic, emotionally-draining compositions of their past three albums, and they definitely succeeded here. “The White” is probably the biggest change for any Agalloch release so far, and shows that this is a band with complete confidence in their abilities, to the point that they can drastically alter the scope and approach of their sound and still have it be just as enjoyable a listen. And while I’m not calling “The White” a great record, I would call it greatly enjoyable, a must for anyone already a fan of the band, and a very nice addition to Agalloch’s body of work…
8 environmentally-friendly headbangs out of 10.
- Information
- Released: 2008
- Label: Vendlus Records
- Website: www.agalloch.org
- Band
- John Haughm: vocals. guitar, drums
- Don Anderson: guitar
- Jason William Walton: bass
- Aesop Dekker: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. The Isle of Summer
- 02. Birch Black
- 03. Hollow Stone
- 04. Pantheist
- 05. Birch White
- 06. Sowilo Rune
- 07. Summerisle Reprise
