Agalloch - The Mantle
Tracklist
01. A Celebration For The Death Of Man...02. In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion
03. Odal
04. I Am The Wooden Doors
05. The Lodge
06. You Were But A Ghost In My Arms
07. The Hawthorne Passage
08. ...And The Great Cold Death Of The Earth
09. A Desolation Song
Line-up
John Haughm - vocals, guitars, drums, percussion, ebow, woodchimes, samples
Donald L. Anderson - guitars, piano
Jason William Walton - bass, noisescape
Additional musicians:
Danielle Norton - trombone
Ty Brubaker - double bass, accordion
Ronn Chick - synths, mandolin, bells, programming
Aaron Sholes - samples
Neta Smolack - samples
John Haughm - vocals, guitars, drums, percussion, ebow, woodchimes, samples
Donald L. Anderson - guitars, piano
Jason William Walton - bass, noisescape
Additional musicians:
Danielle Norton - trombone
Ty Brubaker - double bass, accordion
Ronn Chick - synths, mandolin, bells, programming
Aaron Sholes - samples
Neta Smolack - samples
Rating:
9.5
9.5
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Rating:
9.5 |
In the true musical lineage of Opeth and Katatonia, Agalloch is one of these mystic and melancholic bands, excelling at playing a smart blend of Doom Metal and few elements from Melodic Death Metal, such as the voice a la Dark Tranquillity. Established as one of the best combos in their style and one of America's most interesting bands, Agalloch was founded in Portland, Oregon in late 1995. After a couple of demos, they scored a deal with The End Records in 1998 and their debut album Pale Folklore was released in 1999. In 2001, a limited MCD entitled Of Stone, Wind and Pillor was released and they then worked on today's chapter, their second full-length album, The Mantle. Agalloch is composed by John Haughm [vocals, guitars, drums], Don Anderson [guitars] and Jason William Walton [bass]. Read more ›› |
Guest review by
telephonebear
telephonebear
Rating:
10
10
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Rating:
10 |
Agalloch are a band that I have only recently started listening to, but they are the first band in a long time that I have fallen in love with instantly. Most of my favourites have grown on me overtime but there was something about The Mantle that captured me immediately. I tend to listen to cleaner vocal songs, although there are death metal bands I like, but I thought I would be put off by Haughm's raspy blackened vocals. Instead I found them really beautiful the way they weave in and out of the music. That was the thing that struck me most about Agalloch: the beauty of it. The general formula seems to be power chords on electric guitar with gentle twangy acoustic melodies over the top. This works really nicely and the juxtaposition of the heavy and the soft is mirrored when Haugm's vocals become more tuneful. The first time this occurs is in "In The Shadow of Our Pale Companion"-the magnum opus of the album and Agalloch's best along with "Not Unlike the Waves" four years later. The rasps and whispers build up to an epic sounding tuneful cry which gives me shivers every time. The vocals then vary between these two styles, as well as monotone almost talking and whispers through the rest of the album, in a very fluid way. There is no clean verse to harsh verse pattern; it all blends into each other. Read more ›› |
Staff pick by
RaduP
Found in 176 lists
RaduP
Winter
Aug 31, 2022
It is only now that I realize how ironic it is that one of the most wintery albums out there was released in the summer. The August from 20 years ago gave us this masterpiece, and this is one of those kind of albums where it's very uncontroversial to call it as such. "In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion" only gets competition from "East Hastings" as my favorite song of all time, and I've mentioned time and time again how discovering this album about ten years ago was a paradigm shift for me and my music taste. It's interesting see how I still connect to The Mantle after all these years, even though sometimes I feel it's either too pompous or meandering for its own good, there are very few albums with such a great interplay between electric and acoustic guitars, and that so effectively merge atmospheric black metal into post-rock structures. And all of it feels magical years later.
Staff pick by:
Endorsed by: Starvynth, ScreamingSteelUS, X-Ray Rod, nikarg, Daniell, musclassia, corrupt, Dream Taster, Nejde, Redel
Endorsed by: Starvynth, ScreamingSteelUS, X-Ray Rod, nikarg, Daniell, musclassia, corrupt, Dream Taster, Nejde, Redel
Top lists
Comments page 4 / 5
Comments:
142
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Posts: 1534 Written by Metren on 26.08.2016 at 18:41 And that time has come, rather sooner than I had expected. It's snowing (has been for days, even though it is only November), there's a fire warming my room, mulled wine to drink and this album. Perfect, absolutely perfect. Sometimes life's good 
---- My one-man project's Bandcamp with free downloads: https://dreadrealm.bandcamp.com/
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Account deleted Quote:Written by [user id=142921] on 03.02.2017 at 09:13 I swear, I was an idiot when I wrote that, this is a 10/10.  My opinion changes too much. 
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Account deleted Quote:Written by [user id=142921] on 05.04.2017 at 12:38 I don't even know.
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Posts: 91
Agalloch is definitely the band with the best finals in the metal. From And the great cold death of the earth, A desolation song and Bloodbirds from Ashes I feel a satisfying saisfaccion that leaves me a feeling that something divine happened. Definitely this album and Ashes are in my top 20 metal albums of all time.
---- Here, waiting very quiet right in front Valaritas, the door that hides the tomb.
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| Branowar
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Listening to this in Cusco... it fits How can this album be so damn near-perfect?
---- Crackhead Megadeth reigns supreme.
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Posts: 3554 Written by [user id=159927] on 03.01.2018 at 23:00 Don't be a pedant. I'd give it a 10 as well, although I think the closing track is slightly underwhelming.
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Posts: 9575 Written by [user id=159927] on 03.01.2018 at 23:00 A 9.5 would round up 
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Posts: 840
I will never get the hype around this band.
---- You are the hammer, I am the nail building a house in the fire on the hill
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Posts: 440
Beautiful album, a bit boring at times, but I liked it none the less.
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Mmmm it's okay? It's too repetitive and the vocals are just regular growling. The classical guitars and the atmosphere of the album are the highlights but it all keeps going on in loops. I've heard better atmospheric albums and they also had better solos and better vocals. I'm not a big fan of growling but I do appreciate and even enjoy some growling when it's really good or fits the song. I mean, I expected that the metal storm rating was overblown out of proportions. I think there are a lot of black / death / extreme/ atmospheric metal listeners on this site and anything that has atmosphere and growling which is half decent has the tendency to be a top album on metal storm. 7/10 and that's mainly for the originality, atmoshpere and production. Back in 2002 this must have been a fresh release.
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Posts: 3582 Written by GIO 616 on 25.10.2018 at 04:35 Maybe you accidently listened to it twice? (just like you posted this twice) Anyway, I always fail to see people rating 10/10 but complaining about the length of an album. If you really do think it's perfect, you should be happy for every single piece of music you received for your money, shouldn't you?
---- signatures = SPAM
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Posts: 3582 Written by Mountain King on 11.01.2019 at 13:48 I am sharing most of your thoughts, in particular concerning the endless loops and the general grade of repetition. I do not mind the growls at all, in fact, my favorite styles doom/death, death and black do not compute without growls. And I really do like the slower, mellow, accoustic spectrum of metal, too. So looking at the ingredients of The Mantle and the encomia it accumulated, this should be one of my favorite albums. But it's not. In fact, I didn't even bother to ever purchase this. Caused by the fulsome reviews, I bought Pale Folklore a couple of years ago. I gave it quite a couple of spins but just couldn't urge myself into liking it. It bored the pants off me and ended up 6/10. Then people kept on telling me how paramount the following The Mantle was, but same story here. I just can't spot any outstanding highlights and riffs sticking in my mind are scarce exceptions. I just re-listened and even right after these 68 minutes, I fail to recall a single melody or passage deserving all the praise this album gets. I'd even say the vocals and the instrumentals are at best of mediocre quality. Luckily, I didn't spent any money finding out that this album barely contains anything I'd necessarily have to hear again. I am happy for anyone adoring this album but I just don't get it.
---- signatures = SPAM
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Posts: 1361 Written by Starvynth on 11.01.2019 at 17:08 Exactly my thoughts. I will have to check the rest of the discography because to be honest I'm not familiar with the other albums. I just saw their live DVD once but I don't recall anything specific. When I saw the notification I thought I was being bashed by a fan for not liking the album so I'm glad I got to read such a constructive comment.Have a great weekend.
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Posts: 3582 Written by Mountain King on 11.01.2019 at 19:51 That's exactly what I thought when your notification popped up. Your rating does still imply it's good, 7/10 should never justify hard bashing. But maybe the hardcore fans are already waiting in the wings and poisoning their daggers? Who knows... The same to you!
---- signatures = SPAM
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Posts: 190
Oh, The Mantle, atmospheric God album, right? Yeah, this album has giant mystic atmosphere all around. That's for sure. But overall, it's not perfect. Too much instrumentals where not much is happening and they're too long, still same acoustic guitars with same classic chords on and on. Featureless vocals.
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Posts: 9628 Written by Mountain King on 11.01.2019 at 13:48 Having just listened to it for the first time in full in a very long while, and it having been my favorite album of all time for a very long time, I'm starting to agree with you a bit. This is an absolutely marvelous album, but it's dragged a bit down by repetitions, with are great motifs and all, but don't work that well with the album's length, hence why I usually just listened to either the first four songs or the last two. I honestly think this would've been a better record if The Lodge was somehow merged with The Hawthorne Passage and it flowed directly into And The Great Cold Death Of The Earth. Try giving it another listen but remove The Hawthorne Passage and You Were But A Ghost In My Arms. In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion is still my favorite song of all time, so at the very least relisten to the first two songs.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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The formula of this album: alternation of excellence of songs: track 01: beautiful intro track 02: a highlight track 03: a very nice one track 04: a highlight track 05: a beautiful "filler" track 06: the brightest highlight track 07: a very nice one track 08: a highlight track 09: a nice closer This alternation prevents it from generating any boredom IMO -- despite the album length.
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In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion is a genuine contender for one of the best songs written within metal, I honestly think it's a masterpiece. Hawthorne Passage, Odal and You Were But A Ghost In My Arms are also immense
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Posts: 9628 Written by musclassia on 19.12.2020 at 01:21 ITSOOPC is my favourite song ever.
---- Do you think if the heart keeps on shrinking One day there will be no heart at all?
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Posts: 8669 Written by RaduP on 19.12.2020 at 13:09 Probably the same for me, or at the very least top 5
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Like every hope I've ever had Like every dream I've ever known It washed away in a tide of longing, a longing for a better world From my will, my throat, to the river, and into the sea, wash away, fade away That parts fucking gets me every time...
---- Written by BloodTears on 19.08.2011 at 18:29 Written by Milena on 20.06.2012 at 10:49
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What a ride with this album. As strange as this sounds this was my first discovery of Agalloch and I originally hated The Mantle for being a boring album that dragged on. I wouldn't give this album another chase until after I listened to Ashes Against The Grain, now my all-time favorite metal album. With every passing listen, it was the greatest reevaluation I ever made as I finally understand that this is what metal means as an art form. Now I literally listen to Agalloch every day (more particularly this album and especially Ashes) and they've become one of my all-time favorites. While I do love Ashes more, The Mantle truly opened my eyes and into my heart. Too bad I discovered them too late after their breakup as I always do with most of my favorite metal bands.
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