And so finally the wait is over, and the latest masterpiece from Oregon's darkest band is here. If you read my review of the debut album 'Pale Folklore' then you know how much I adore this band and how special they are to me. Although its taken me more listens to 'The Mantle' then 'Pale Folklore' to realize what a great album it is, but I can safely say the new Agalloch album is nothing short of being brilliant in every sense imaginable. I did not discover Agalloch until about a year ago so my wait for this new album has not been as long as it has for some people, but it sure seems like it has. Now as I sit here and write this review I must come to a conclusion as to which album is better?
As for 'Pale Folklore' it instantly hit me as being amazing while 'The Mantle' took me about 4 or 5 listens until I could see what a piece of artwork it is. I've been questioning myself this over and over again, and I think it of course has to do with the music change. The music on The Mantle is still dark & depressive, but a lot of the metal that was on Pale Folklore has been drained out here on The Mantle. In fact we don't even start hearing any metal until about the 4th song 'I am the Wooden Doors.' And at that point were already about 25 minutes deep into the album. Almost all the songs on the album are built up on acoustic guitars, and when mixed with Agalloch's dark atmosphere they really create something special.
After the short intro track we go into the second song 'In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion.' Prior to this album being released I had read the band had a strong ''Godspeed you Black Emperor' influence present in their music. I've only heard a maybe a handful of songs from this band, but I think I can see the influence. The next song 'Odal' has a very similar feeling to it as well. I especially like the 4th and 6th songs as they have the good old Agalloch dark metal feeling in these songs. As usual these songs are dark, and feature some excellent guitar riffs, and I'm sure these will be the songs that get you addicted. I think after I gave these ones several listens I finally realized what a grand album this is. But let's not forget the last two songs 'And the Great Cold Death of the Earth' & 'A Desolation Song.'
'And the Great Cold Death of the Earth' once again features some excellent music and depressive lyrics. The booklet says that parts of the lyrics for this song are taken from Cherokee folklore. Rather interesting lyrics I must say, and got to admit I like them. Finally the last song and possibly the saddest song on the whole album. The song is a love song in a way or rather it would appear that Haughm hasn't had to many good experiences with love, and he's more or less singing about his hate for it. I really like this song, because I can totally relate to what he's saying in these lyrics. I guess you could say I haven't had much luck in this area of life either.
Another thing I'd like to comment on is John Haughm's vocal performance on this recording. Once again he uses the grim vocals, but for the most part he uses the clean vocals a lot more. There's just something about this guys voice that I just think it awesome. His voice is dark & haunting, and really captures the music well. I personally think he sounds best on the 6th song. Although some might not want to see this, but I certainly wouldn't mind if in the future the band used all clean vocals. The grim vocals are good, but they tend to sound weird when there's nothing but acoustic guitar being played. Even though this album is damn near perfect there is one thing, which I loved on all previous releases that's missing here on The Mantle. That being the symphonic instrumental songs. To my knowledge these songs were always wrote by 'Brener' and it would appear that he's no longer part of the band. When he left I don't know, but without him the band definitely has lost one talented musician. I should also mention that this album has a lot of instrumental songs on it, but some of them tend to be a little boring since they're all rather lengthy. Sorry I just loved those old symphonic songs like 'The Misshapen Steed' and 'Foliorum Viridium' and this album would have been even more amazing with the addition of a song like one of those.
Well in case you haven't figured it out yet Agalloch's 'The Mantle' is quite the album. I would easily say this album is on the very top or close to the top as being my favorite of the year so far. And although this new album sounds a lot different than 'Pale Folklore' I still love it...maybe even more so then Pale Folklore. With just two albums completed the band has proved to me and countless others that they truly are an unique and one of a kind band. Get this album!
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