Agalloch
Of Stone, Wind and Pillor

...It was not long ago when I had fallen from this mortal world,
Lost in dream flight to pierce the horizon as a bird...

A few years ago, as a chubby young guy with long hair who had just discovered Folk Metal bands like Finntroll and Doom bands like Candlemass and was quite thrilled by these genres, I opted for a quick search on the Internet, through which I became acquainted with this American band from Portland, Oregon, Agalloch, described as both Doom and Folk Metal.

Anyone who knows this band well understands that the two aforementioned groups have very little to do with the matter at hand. Labels, as in this case, can prove to be quite reductive or misleading.

The "metal" is reduced to slight incursions in some songs, consider "I Am The Wooden Doors" contained in "The Mantle" and John Haughm's whispered scream, never invasive or annoying nor ridiculous or out of place. For doom, we can refer to the slow and dark atmospheres extended; the folk is the basis of everything, that is, the basic dark and neofolk component of this group: long acoustic arpeggios and slow poignant melodies, not at all banal, that envelop the listener in a vortex of emotional sensations.

Forgive this last expression like an advertisement, but it's precisely what we're talking about.

The record in question, the EP "Of Stone, Wind And Pillor", released in 2001, is a journey of five songs in just under half an hour through pristine autumn woods, among yellow leaves, gray clouds, and the first snowflakes that hint at falling.

It starts from the scream and electric textures of the title track to the exquisite fluted melodies of "Foliorium Viridium" accompanied by distant solemn choirs, among the most evocative moments of the record, followed by the acoustic "Hunting  Birds". A deep chant, which faintly recalls Tony Wakeford, opens "Kneel To The Cross," a cover of Sol Invictus, a powerful Folk track where Haughm's clean singing stands out. Piano and strings open the main piece of the album "A Poem By Yeats": a true fusion of poetry and music, it is an atmospheric folk track that accompanies the recitation of verses from the poem "The Sorrow Of Love" by Irish poet William Butler Yeats.

In conclusion, "Of Stone, Wind And Pillor" is a short album, moreover difficult to find, composed of five tracks above average but certainly not masterpieces. It is therefore not an essential album, but neither is it something reserved only for Agalloch fans; listening should be easy even for those not familiar with the genre.

It can simply be described as a half-hour walk in an autumn forest.

The cover is also gorgeous, taken from a work by Gustave Doré.