Line #54 Music/Agalloch


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1933.jpg]]
2
3	Agalloch were a rather eclectic metal band from UsefulNotes/TheUnitedStates, known for their unique fusion of black metal, folk metal, and post-metal into a sound that many refer to as "dark metal." Their songs are typically long, featuring traditional elements of black metal such as tremolo picked guitars and blastbeats alongside more unusual folk instrumentation (including a ''deer skull'' on a couple songs) and song structures reminiscent of post-rock. They use a mixture of harsh and clean vocals in most of their songs and write mainly about the beauty of nature, winter, solitude, and ancestral paganism. To date, they have released five full-length albums, four EP's, and two singles, along with a gaggle of demos and split releases.
4
5	On May 13th of 2016, after 20 years of creating music, the band unexpectedly decided to break up.
6
7	Their releases so far include:
8	* ''Pale Folklore'' (1999)
9	* ''Of Stone, Wind and Pillor'' (2001, EP)
10	* ''The Mantle'' (2002)
11	* ''Tomorrow Will Never Come'' (2003, EP)
12	* ''The Grey'' (2004, EP)
13	* ''Ashes Against the Grain'' (2006)
14	* ''The White'' (2008, EP)
15	* ''Marrow of the Spirit'' (2010)
16	* ''Faustian Echoes'' (2012, EP)
17	* ''The Serpent and the Sphere'' (2014)
18
19	Band members:
20	* John Haughm - Guitar, vocals, drums
21	* Don Anderson - Guitar, drums, keyboards
22	* Jason William Walton - Bass guitar
23	* Aesop Dekker - Drums
24
25	Former members:
26	* Shane Breyer - Keyboards
27	* Chris Greene - Drums
28	----
29
30	!! Tropes:
31
32	* AlbumIntroTrack: "A Celebration for the Death of Man..." for ''The Mantle'' and "They Escaped the Weight of Darkness" for ''Marrow of the Spirit.''
33	* AlbumTitleDrop: At the very end of "Our Fortress is Burning II", the last song with lyrics on ''Ashes Against the Grain.''
34	--> "And all of our shadows are ashes against the grain."
35	* AntiLoveSong: "A Desolation Song". "She Painted Fire Across the Skyline" also has elements of this.
36	* ApocalypseWow: "...And the Great Cold Death of the Earth" is one of the most stirring and triumphant tracks on ''The Mantle'' and appears to be about the end of all life.
37	* AudioAdaptation: "Faustian Echoes" is essentially one for ''Faust'', considering that all the lyrics are taken from Goethe's play and it uses audio samples from Creator/JanSvankmajer's adaptation of the story.
38	* BookEnds:
39	** ''The Mantle'' opens with "A Celebration for the Death of Man...", and the climactic track for the album, "...And the Great Cold Death of the Earth" not only continues its title, but ends with a reprise of its main riff. ("A Desolation Song" can be considered an epilogue to the album.)
40	** Similarly, ''The White'' EP opens with "The Isle of Summer" and ends with "Summerisle Reprise", a somber LonelyPianoPiece that, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin reprises]] the opening track.
41	** "They Escaped the Weight of Darkness" has melodic elements that reappear in the final song of the album, "To Drown"; in addition, the title of the former, which is instrumental, is whispered at the start of the latter. Some versions of the album also include a 7" vinyl record that includes another track, "The Weight of Darkness", which is an alternate arrangement of themes from these two songs; it makes up the second side of the 7", making it a further example of this trope.
42	* BreatherEpisode: ''The White'' is this for their discography, as it is an almost entirely acoustic EP of neofolk and dark ambient tracks with almost no elements of metal at all. Most of their albums also contain brief acoustic or ambient interludes to break up the longer songs.
43	* ConceptAlbum: Most of their albums are this in some form.
44	* DarkerAndEdgier: ''Marrow of the Spirit'' is much heavier and more BlackMetal-influenced than its predecessors; it also doesn't feature clean singing.
45	* DownerEnding: "A Desolation Song" for ''The Mantle'', "Our Fortress Is Burning... III - The Grain" (or, if you count it, "Scars of the Shattered Sky") for ''Ashes Against the Grain'', "To Drown" for ''Marrow of the Spirit''.
46	* DrivenToSuicide: The narrator of "In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion", according to most interpretations.
47	* EpicInstrumentalOpener: Most of their songs have lengthy intros before the vocals come in, if they even have vocals at all.
48	* EpicRocking: Most of their songs are about 8-10 minutes long, with some like "Faustian Echoes" surpassing 20 minutes. "Black Lake Niðstång" isn't far behind at around seventeen and a half minutes long.
49	* EverythingIsAnInstrument: "The Lodge" and "A Desolation Song" have a deer skull being used for percussion.
50	* FadingIntoTheNextSong: Most of their albums do this at least somewhat. The CD versions of ''The Mantle'' and ''Pale Folklore'' are entirely continuous.
51	* GreenAesop: One of their main lyrical themes is the beauty of nature, and some of their lyrics are direct protests or laments of humanity's despoilment of the environment.
52	* HarshVocals: John Haughm's harsh screams are their main mode of vocals, though they sound less malevolent than most other examples in metal.
53	* HeavyMithril: They like to write about mythology sometimes.
54	* {{Instrumentals}}: Lots of their songs have no vocals at all, including about half of ''The Mantle''. "The Hawthorne Passage" is probably their most celebrated example by far.
55	* LonelyPianoPiece: "Summerisle Reprise." "The Misshapen Steed" also counts, though it also features a string section.
56	** There's also an instrumental track on ''The White'' called "Pantheist".
57	* PrecisionFStrike: Near the beginning of "A Desolation Song."
58	* {{Sampling}}: Shows up sometimes. For example, "The Hawthorne Passage" samples ''Film/TheSeventhSeal'' and the 1968 Mexican film ''Fando y Lis'' (Creator/AlejandroJodorowsky's first film). The first and last two tracks on ''The White'' sample ''Film/TheWickerMan1973''.
59	* SnowMeansDeath: Given that they like to write about both death and winter a lot, this is a given.
60	* SopranoAndGravel: While their primary vocal style is growled, several songs also have clean singing.
61	* SpiritualSuccessor: Pillorian, John Haughm's new band formed after the breakup of Agalloch, probably qualifies. The other three band members have formed a band called Khôrada with Aaron Gregory, formerly of Giant Squid, but have said not to expect their work to sound like either Agalloch or Giant Squid; they haven't released any material yet, however, and all they've really said about their sound is that it is "incredibly powerful and monstrously heavy".
62	* SpokenWordInMusic: Used with some frequency, mainly with sampling from movies. John Haughm also gives a spoken word monologue on "To Drown."
63	* TheStoic: ''The entire band''.
64	* SubduedSection: A common technique of the band. "Black Lake Niðstång" features a particularly stirring example.
65	* SurprisinglyGentleSong: Most of their acoustic tracks and a lot of their instrumentals qualify. ''The White'' is a surprisingly gentle ''album.''
66	* UncommonTime: From time to time. For instance, "Black Lake Niðstång" has a riff that comes out to 17/4 (4+5+4+4/4).
67	* TheWorldIsJustAwesome: Their music tends to give this vibe a lot, even when it's completely instrumental.

Context Music / Agalloch