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Tag Archive: Agalloch


Stream The New Twenty Minute Agalloch Single ‘Faustian Echoes‘

Filed Under: Audio, New music
Jun.26, 2012

Holy dark prog, Batman! Agalloch have a new EP/single coming out called ‘Faustian Echoes,’ which reaches over twenty-minutes in length, making it the longest Agalloch song ever written. I’m not completely finished listening to the track as of typing up this news piece, but it has exactly what I’ve come to expect from the band’s doomy black metal sound. When the band called the song an epic, they weren’t just blowing smoke.

The track can be streamed over at Bandcamp and via the player below.

I can’t seem to find a proper release date or anything concerning purchase. You’d think bands would make it easier for you to buy their stuff, right?

Agalloch are hitting the road soon and taking on a full North American tour. Check out the tour dates after the jump!

- JR

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Ne Obliviscaris – Portal Of I

Filed Under: Reviews
May.18, 2012

Ne Obliviscaris

Portal of I

01. Tapestry Of The Starless Abstract
02. Xenoflux
03. Of The Leper Butterflies
04. Forget Not
05. And Plague Flowers The Kaleidoscope
06. As Icicles Fall
07. Of Petrichor Weaves Black Noise

[05/07/12]
[Code 666 Records]

Black metal is quickly evolving from a one-off listen to a personal favorite of mine. There is just something about its music that entrances me, something other-worldly. I also happen to like its distant nature, by which I mean its ability to still sound heavy without downtuning a guitar. Take the first Mayhem record; standard tuning, but some of the heaviest songs I have ever heard. I also really enjoy some more relaxing non-metal acts, such as The Mars Volta and even (yes, true story) Dave Matthews Band. Part of what attracts me to both is not only their versatility, but their sometimes shocking surprises.

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Agalloch To Tour This Summer

Filed Under: Tours and Rumors of Tours
May.17, 2012

Unless you live in a huge city, seeing Agalloch is like pulling teeth. Hell, I’m flying out to Baltimore next week for Maryland Death Fest to catch them, among others. Not that I’m blaming the band for it though; they have lives and jobs back home and that’s something to respect. When they tour, they usually don’t play many dates.

So with that in mind, count yourself lucky if their summer tour comes close to your neck of the woods. Here are the dates:

7/12 Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile
7/13 Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
7/20 Chicago, IL @ Reggie’s Rock Club
7/22 Cleveland, OH @ Beachland Ballroom
7/23 Toronto, ON @ TBA
7/25 Cambridge, MA @ Middle East Downstairs
7/26 Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
8/1 Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
8/3 New Orleans, LA @ One Eyed Jacks
8/5 Austin, TX @ Red 7
8/9 San Diego, CA @ The Casbah
8/11 San Francisco, CA @ Great American Music Hall

There’s a possibility of further dates being announced, as there’s quite a bit of gap between some of those days. I doubt a touring band would go nearly a week without a gig on the other side of the country if they could help it. Keep up with them on Facebook just in case.

[via Metalsucks]

- JR

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Alcest, Deafheaven, and Autarch — March 24th, 2012 @ The Hideaway, Johnson City, TN

Filed Under: Live, Reviews
Mar.27, 2012


Let me set the scene for you; a stage illuminated with Christmas lights hung from the ceiling, wooden panel walls adorned with custom band skate decks, a fixed gear bike, a mounted zombie-esque deer head, and an endless obsession with Pabst Blue Ribbon. The Hideaway, by any measure, is a hipster paradise tucked away in the form of a hole-in-the-wall bar in Johnson City, Tennessee. This place certainly had its niche carved into its walls, as evidenced by the Baroness Blue Record house music and Weedeater and Black Cobra posters. This is where the sincere and dirty southern flair of Tennessee and the ironic hipster scene intertwine. During sets, it wasn’t unusual to hear the loud shattering of beer bottles as they’re tossed into the garbage. Without a doubt, The Hideaway makes good on the aesthetic evoked by its name, being the smallest and most intimate legitimate venue I’ve ever personally been to. Given this scenery, it’s only fitting that the two most premier post-black metal touring acts would bring their sense of atmosphere into a venue seemingly build specifically for sludge. Trust me, it all works in context.

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Woods of Ypres – Woods 5: Grey Skies and Electric Light

Filed Under: Reviews
Feb.10, 2012

Woods of Ypres

Woods 5: Grey Skies and Electric Light

01. Career Suicide (Is Not Real Suicide)
02. Traveling Alone
03. Alternate Ending
04. Lightening & Snow
05. Finality
06. Death Is Not An Exit
07. Adora Vivos
08. Silver
09. Modern Life Architecture
10. Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye) (pt 1)
11. Kiss My Ashes (Goodbye) (pt 2)

[02/21/12]
[Earache Records]

Groundhog Day was last week, and in my neck of the woods the little bugger apparently saw his shadow, which either means I’m going to be stuck in a hell world where nothing but Bill Murray is playing on the TV, or we’ll have six more weeks of winter. I don’t really mind either of those things, though because Billy Murray is hilarious, and winter almost always brings forth excellent metal albums, usually of the slow and melancholic nature. The aptly titled Woods 5, coming from the short lived Canadian doom band, Woods of Ypres, is just that sort of album. It relies heavily on powerful guitar leads, pain-filled vocals and songs focused around the existential topics that make up our life; death, the afterlife, god, et cetera, et cetera. In this genre it’s something you’ll hear a thousand million times, but some bands know how to pull it off, and some bands don’t. Woods of Ypres are one of the lucky groups who definitely know how to pull it off, and with Woods 5 they have crafted an excellent swansong for the dearly departed singer/songwriter/guitarist David Gold who passed away late last year, shortly after finishing the recording of this album.

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Abigail Williams – Becoming

Filed Under: Reviews
Jan.19, 2012

Abigail Williams

Becoming

01. Ascension Sickness
02. Radiance
03. Elestial
04. Infinite Fields of Mind
05. Three Days of Darkness
06. Beyond the Veil

[01/24/11]
[Candlelight Records]

Abigail Williams were always a divisive band in the realm of black metal. You could probably accurately pin it on a number of factors, including their roots in deathcore and the fact that they don’t particularly look the part. However, the LA-based band have been undergoing a transformation into a full-fledged black metal band, thanks in part to a revolving door lineup policy. Becoming, their appropriately-titled third record, sees the polarizing band evolving into an atmospheric black metal band akin to the likes of Wolves in the Throne Room and Agalloch. Yes, I’m serious; and no, it isn’t bad. In fact, it’s quite good.

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Stream The New Abigail Williams Record Becoming On Hails & Horns

Filed Under: Audio, New music, Upcoming releases
Jan.17, 2012

Before I heard their third full-length album Becoming, I didn’t consider myself a fan of LA-based black metal band Abigail Williams. If you haven’t kept up with the band simply because of some stupid notion that they were a metalcore band, then think again. They’ve evolved into a full-fledged atmospheric black metal band and would fall comfortable on the ears of fans of Agalloch and Wolves in the Throne Room. This record is their best work yet for sure, and you can stream it over at Hails & Horns.

I’ve been working on a review of the record for a while now, as it’s taking some time to gather my thoughts on it because black metal isn’t really my forte, but you can expect that later this week. Becoming is due out January 24th on Candlelight Records.

And if there’s any chance someone in the band or Candlelight reads this; release Becoming on vinyl. I’d buy it in a heartbeat and having this gorgeous album art in a larger physical size would be awesome.

- JR

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Cormorant – Dwellings

Filed Under: Reviews
Nov.28, 2011

Cormorant

Dwellings

01. The First Man
02. Funambulist
03. Confusion of Tongues
04. Junta
05. The Purest Land
06. A Howling Dust
07. Unearthly Dreamings

[12/06/11]
[Self-released]

With winter approaching and the end of the year in sight, new releases are beginning to slow to crawl with only a few significant releases yet to see the light of day before the calender turns. This could be due to a number of reasons from holiday downtime to fewer available resources, but the infamously DIY Bay Area blackened progressive metal band Cormorant‘s late entry for the year will no doubt benefit them, as their sophomore album Dwellings will no doubt go down as the last great album of 2011.

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Falloch – Where Distant Spirits Remain

Filed Under: Reviews
Sep.28, 2011

Falloch

Where Distant Spirits Remain

01. We Are Gathering Dust
02. Beyond Embers And The Earth
03. Horizons
04. Where We Believe
05. The Carrying Light
06. To Walk Amongst The Dead
07. Solace

[09/27/11]
[Candlelight Records]

In the realm of post-black metal, Falloch stand a bit on the outskirts with their foot just barely in the door. The Scottish duo feels a lot more like a more subdued Agalloch with clean singing than anything considered black metal most of the time. Sure, there’s swathes of snowy tremolo picking and blasts and the rare throaty screams that harken back to any traditional black metal sound, but Falloch are an almost progressive blend of post-rock and melancholic modern metal with shades of Celtic folk. Their debut album Where Distant Spirits Remain serves as an introduction to their atmospheric and vast thought-provoking sound.

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Wolves In The Throne Room – Celestial Lineage

Filed Under: Reviews
Sep.06, 2011

Wolves In The Throne Room

Celestial Lineage

1. Thuja Magus Imperium
2. Permanent Changes In Consciousness
3. Subterranean Initiation
4. Rainbow Illness
5. Woodland Cathedral
6. Astral Blood
7. Prayer of Transformation

[09/13/11]
[Southern Lord]

I’m pretty late to the Wolves In The Throne Room party. Or should I say I’m pretty late to the Wolves In The Throne Room ancient pagan ritual in the woods? The peyote trip on the mountain? The sniffing glue in my back yard? Which one is it? I don’t know a whole lot about them and have only heard bits and pieces of their music, never enough to really gauge an opinion of the band.  I know that some people really like them, but others dismiss them as false, bastard hipster pretenders to the black metal “throne room”, if you will.  But I’m going into this review entirely unbiased. Their fourth album Celestial Lineage closes a trilogy that began back in 2007 with Two Hunters and continued with 2009’s Black Cascade.

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