Agalloch
Faustian Echoes

THE REVIEW

Agalloch: a name unknown to most. No doubt about that.

They come from Oregon, the area around Portland where they formed in 1995.

The mysterious name is taken from a tree with hard, resinous wood; capable of emitting a strong and intoxicating aromatic odor. A resin used as a perfume by oriental populations.

Five albums and five EPs released in a career that unfortunately suddenly ended in 2016... and it didn't end well between the band members.

Discovered late, starting from the last phenomenal full-length work released in 2014: The Serpent & The Sphere.

In a few months, I did my research, made up for lost time by listening to and appreciating the complete discography.

Not easy to classify them, not easy the Music proposed by the American quartet.

Each album different from the previous one.

They move with disarming ease from Black to Folk, to Doom Metal.

Long songs, in some cases very long, as happens in Faustian Echoes, which exceeds twenty minutes. We are in 2012.

The prophetic title of the single song from the EP tells us that it refers to Goethe's Faust myth.

The lyrics taken entirely from the same theatrical work.

The journey begins... it is time.

A gigantic suite of dark metal, containing an excessive number of musical progressions, emotional alternations that have made Agalloch's sound so full and masterful and immediately recognizable for those who know them well. They go far beyond the chilling Black Metal of the Swedish band Dissection: Post Black in endless evolution - revolution in the flow of minutes, cyclically. Relentless and harsh attacks of unusual depth; acoustic sections that suddenly make their way through a whirlwind of epic notes. Calm, dreamlike moments of sunny decay; relaunches armed with the guitar riffs of Anderson and Haughm, which in an instant become delicate beauty phrases. Even the voice changes register, tone several times; scream - growl transforming into clean. And the singing takes on immaculate and pure tones. At the end, you catch a glimpse of a dim and pale light; but it is still light. The sound rises among Progressive notes "in lift"... and my mountains come to mind among immense spaces and unreal silences... FALLING SNOW...

Ad Maiora.