AGALLOCH - The Serpent and the Sphere (2014)

Genre: "Dark" Metal

Label: Profound Lore Records

Rating: 9/10

Agalloch may not be the most extreme metal band around, and are often accused of being hipster metal. To these people, I can issue a confident “fuck off.” I know for a fact that at least Mr. Haughm and Aesop Dekker have excellent and genuine tastes in music, and are great people making even better music. This monster of an album is one such example.

“Birth and Death of the Pillars of Creation” starts off with clean guitar for about a minute, and then slow distorted electrics come in. The electrics have phenomenal guitar tone. Perfect crunch. There is all the while an acoustic rhythm. There is a mournful lead that comes in at about 3:45. At about 4:05-4:10, the chord progression switches, and it's a very nostalgic riff. Then the vocals come in. They are certainly Mr. Haughm's vocals, sounding good as ever. At about 5:50 everything quiets down briefly, until the guitars crash in again, like waves of sadness and depression. The drums have sat in the background for most of this song, but not for lack of skill. I believe that Aesop is truly an asset to this band and has a great drum sound. That drum sound is much better on this album than on Marrow of the Spirit. At 8:39, an absolutely beautiful, lightly distorted lead chimes in. It plays until the outro ambient noise, which segues into an acoustic interlude that is the second track, “(Serpens Caput).”

“Astral Dialogue” sounds more rock-y, in feel, at the beginning, but has a really cool intro riff. At roughly 0:50 the drums come in full-force, with a typical Agalloch tremolo picked lead. The guitar work on this album is wonderful: not technical, just great songwriting with a metal guitar style. It is very true to form for Agalloch. At roughly 3:15, it breaks to a brief acoustic piece, before palm-muted, desperate sounding electric guitar comes back in. It leads to the intro riff being played again, with a lead over it, and then back into the verse. At 4:55 it takes a more Pale Folklorey feel, and then ends. Track four, “Dark Matter Gods,” starts clean, and then comes in a brief section of distorted electric guitar that is dark, and reminiscent of Ashes Against the Grain. During the verse, the bass features heavily, and it is a well-written bassline. The chorus is dark and yet lovely at the same time. I hope the word “lovely” does not scare the reader away, I mean it simply in that it strikes the heart. At 3:29 comes in a quiet section with clean electric guitar and distant, minimal strings. Followed by this is the sort of signature Agalloch build-up and release. It's a sort of climax that happens yet again in the song, only the second time the drumming becomes more...militant. After this, the drum pattern gets interesting. The rhythm guitar track is phenomenal after this build-up, and the lead guitar sounds like something that could be either Ashes or Folklore.

“Celestial Effigy” starts off with acoustic and clean electric with perhaps some minimal chorus on it and drums beneath. It's not long before the distorted parts come in, however. There's a lightly distorted, palm-muted, sort of galloped lead. Then the guitars alternate back and forth between clean and distorted, before settling upon a clean, palm-muted rhythm. At 2:35 it becomes gripping; at this point, you're certainly hooked. Then at roughly 3:20, a blastbeat comes with a tremolo part that quickly switches to emphatically strummed chords with breaks in between bursts of strumming. At 4:54 comes a section which sounds utterly heartfelt, followed by clean electric, acoustic arpeggiation, bass, and drums keeping rhythm. This gives way to a fantastic outro riff and simple guitar solo. A very fast clean electric arpeggio is played after the solo, and when this terminates, just drums remain, and the song ends.

Track six, “Cor Serpentis (the sphere),” is another heart-rending acoustic interlude. It is one track of guitar that goes unaccompanied for its entirety. “Vales Beyond Dimension” is the newest-sounding Agalloch song in my opinion. The introductory chord progression is rather unlike their typical repertoire. However, it does give over to a riff that is very Agalloch, and is more evocative in my opinion. At 2:14 it sounds like classic Agalloch, like something off Pale Folklore. The riff around 3:05 is dark in a stormy, brooding way. The tremolo riff and excellent drumbeat beneath it that start at around 3:43 continue this mood. The section that comes at about 5:05 is a great lead-up to the outro, with a killer little lick that leads it downward.

The actual outro riff is unique for Agalloch. It segues into track eight, “Plateau of the Ages,” an insturmental which starts off with lightly distorted electric guitar and a fairly “sweet” bassline. The drum rhythm at 2:37 is killer, and there is a swell section of guitar that comes in over it, with the occasional strum of an acoustic. The building riff has resolution, something which I think Agalloch purposefully leaves out of a lot of their music; I mean resolution in an existential sense, not musical. Listening to Agalloch is as much an emotional and philosophical experience as it is musical. At any rate, at 4:50 comes a guitar riff and drums that trudge along while tremolo picked, higher notes can be heard over this, though it seems that the rhythm section is the highlight. The song starts to take a different direction entirely at 6:13, with a totally different set of guitar parts. It still stays at mid-tempo, however. I love the electric lead and harmonisation that kick in at 7:31; it matches the mood of the drums and acoustic rhythm perfectly. At 8:25 it gets substantially louder. At 9:27, the drums take on an interesting beat. Eventually it breaks into a lead section, and a dramatic rise in tension. The drums are perfect in this aspect, they keep the tension thick and palpable. The song ends as the instruments fade out, which in turn segues into the final track, “(Serpens Cadua).” Also an instrumental, it is acoustic with some synthesiser over it. It should be noted that all acoustic interludes on this album were played by Nathanaël Larochette of Musk Ox, and masterfully done, I must say (though anyone familiar with Musk Ox could expect no less).

I've come to expect a lot from Agalloch, as have a lot of other people, I think. Every part of this album was tasteful and not one second was overdone. They also worked hard to avoid falling into their own clichés, that is clear. Production-wise, this is a perfect album in my opinion. It is also their most diverse, and potentially the most interesting since The Mantle. To any Agalloch fan, I can say with utmost confidence that you will like this; to those not familiar with Agalloch, I think you, too, will enjoy it. It is an experience unto itself. If you wish to purchase this electronically, you can do so on Agalloch's Bandcamp; if you want the CD, you can go here for that. Enjoy.