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Agalloch - The Serpent & The Sphere
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8 | 682 votes |
Release date: 13 May 2014
Style: Neofolk, Atmospheric black metal

Owners:
502 have it
85 want it


01. Birth And Death Of The Pillars Of Creation
02. (Serpens Caput)
03. The Astral Dialogue
04. Dark Matter Gods
05. Celestial Effigy
06. Cor Serpentis (The Sphere)
07. Vales Beyond Dimension
08. Plateau Of The Ages
09. (Serpens Cauda)
10. Omega Serpentis [Japanese bonus]
11. Sigma Serpentis [Japanese bonus]

The Best Melodic Black Metal Album Of 2014
Featured in "Getting Into: Agalloch"
Review Lyrics (9)

Line-up
John Haughm - vocals, guitars, percussion, zither
Don Anderson - guitars, mellotron, backing vocals
Aesop Dekker - drums, percussion
Jason William Walton - bass

Additional musicians:
Nathanaël Larochette - acoustic guitars
B. Anderson - piano, throat singing
Veleda Thorsson - electric saw, waterphone
R. Sforcina - synthesizers, oscillation & wires

Additional info
Produced by Billy Anderson and Agalloch.

Recorded at Cloud City and mixed at Everything Hz by Billy Anderson. Guest appearance by guitarist Nathanaël Larochette of Musk Ox, who wrote and provided the album's acoustic interludes.

Staff review by
R'Vannith
Rating:
8.3
Agalloch have never favoured doom as forcefully as they have on The Serpent & The Sphere. So blatantly delivered, it would appear that this new resolve has completely shattered their ability and will to instil the expected level of atmosphere in their fifth full-length effort. But appearances can be deceiving.

Read more ››
published 13.05.2014 | Comments (39)

Found in 68 lists
Top lists

Top Albums 2014 By Neiluria  | #57
neiluria
2014: From Professor JokeR's Perspective  | #11
Chobo_jokeR
2014  | #45
Neachy
2014 In the Abyss with Lady Bird and Korah  | #42
Korah
You Know It's Technically 2011-2020, Right?  | #2
RaduP
Metal In The Time Of 2014  | #3
musclassia
MS Meta(l) List Of The 2010's - Top 200  | #113
Starvynth
Favorite 2014 Albums  | #12
ManiacBlasphemer
More lists with this album (68) | Create a list! ››


Comments page 4 / 8

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Comments: 221   Visited by: 1677 users
13.05.2014 - 05:39
BlueMobius
Account deleted
Got my copy in the mail earlier today and have given it a spin, in addition to the listens I've already given to the online stream, in the car as I was out on a drive tonight. Gotta say that I'm really impressed with the album. It's just a solid album with good songwriting. It may not be another envelope-pushing album from Agalloch, but it is them showing that they are masters at what they do, crafting dynamic and engulfing music.
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13.05.2014 - 11:36
Rating: 7
God Alone
That Insomnium fanboy again...
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13.05.2014 - 12:11
Rating: 9
Dark Forever
Ruído Sonoro
Written by God Alone on 13.05.2014 at 11:36

That Insomnium fanboy again...


It's getting ridiculous.
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Taste the DARK...
... and you'll live FOREVER!
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13.05.2014 - 12:21
Rating: 8
angel.
Evil Butterfly
Written by X-Ray Rod on 29.04.2014 at 08:36
But I really like this one. I'm thankful my cd copy has the second one on front.


Yeah I love this one too, I always loved to have a t-shirt with this on it.
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The Fangirl.
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13.05.2014 - 14:39
Rating: 7
Alex F
Slick Dick Rick
Written by God Alone on 13.05.2014 at 11:36

That Insomnium fanboy again...

He's not even discreet about his vote abuse.
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13.05.2014 - 17:14
Rating: 7
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Staff
Insomnium fanboy dealt with. Votes nuked, perms revoked.

Go Agalloch. Have a nice day.
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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13.05.2014 - 17:52
Coolingsrock
Damn, now that's justice....nice review
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13.05.2014 - 21:57
Rating: 7
Hex_Omega
Gem Seeker
Hm this is probably their worst album
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14.05.2014 - 01:28
Rating: 7
Erik M.
Written by Troy Killjoy on 13.05.2014 at 17:14

Insomnium fanboy dealt with. Votes nuked, perms revoked.

Go Agalloch. Have a nice day.




Now take care of this vote abuser, who's trying to disguise his vote abuse by not handing out 1's yet still handing out a ridiculous amount of 10's.
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14.05.2014 - 01:30
Rating: 7
Erik M.
Written by Hex_Omega on 13.05.2014 at 21:57

Hm this is probably their worst album


Possibly so... I know I've said I still prefer this one to MotS, but at least that one has an awesome creepy, cold atmosphere going on. This one lacks in atmosphere, and it lacks clean vocals, which are my main two issues with it.

I just downgraded it to an 8. I simply don't feel like it's worthy of a 9, because it honestly disappointed me quite a bit.
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14.05.2014 - 01:32
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Erik M. on 14.05.2014 at 01:28



Now take care of this vote abuser, who's trying to disguise his vote abuse by not handing out 1's yet still handing out a ridiculous amount of 10's.

Doesn't look nuke-worthy to me. Troy may disagree though.
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14.05.2014 - 01:36
Rating: 7
Erik M.
Written by Guest on 14.05.2014 at 01:32

Doesn't look nuke-worthy to me. Troy may disagree though.


Why not? Simply because he's not handing out 1's? He still handed out a shitload of 10's and quite a few very low scores as well (anything below a 5 is "very low" in my opinion). I mean, check out his low ratings and you'll see ALL of them are given to 2014 albums, which is definitely suspicious and to me it seems like vote abuse for sure.
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14.05.2014 - 01:37
Rating: 7
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Staff
Written by Guest on 14.05.2014 at 01:32
Doesn't look nuke-worthy to me. Troy may disagree though.

Nah, you're right. Nowhere near bad enough to nuke. If we're going to request user votes to be deleted in an album thread, at least make it worthwhile/relevant.
----
"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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14.05.2014 - 01:38
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Erik M. on 14.05.2014 at 01:36


Why not? Simply because he's not handing out 1's? He still handed out a shitload of 10's and quite a few very low scores as well (anything below a 5 is "very low" in my opinion). I mean, check out his low ratings and you'll see most of them are given to 2014 albums, which is definitely suspicious and to me it seems like vote abuse for sure.

Seems suspicious but I've seen worse, and on the whole his votes are balanced on other years.
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14.05.2014 - 01:39
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Troy Killjoy on 14.05.2014 at 01:37

Nah, you're right. Nowhere near bad enough to nuke. If we're going to request user votes to be deleted in an album thread, at least make it worthwhile/relevant.

Well it's your call at the end of the day, but I think nuking stuff like that would open the door for nuking a considerable amount of other spurious-but-not-clearly-abuse votes, which might be a bit overzealous.
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14.05.2014 - 01:39
Rating: 7
Erik M.
Written by Troy Killjoy on 14.05.2014 at 01:37

Nah, you're right. Nowhere near bad enough to nuke. If we're going to request user votes to be deleted in an album thread, at least make it worthwhile/relevant.


So the fact that literally ALL of his low ratings (4 and lower) are handed out in 2014 and not any other year, doesn't seem like vote abuse?
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14.05.2014 - 01:42
Rating: 7
Erik M.
Written by Guest on 14.05.2014 at 01:38

Seems suspicious but I've seen worse, and on the whole his votes are balanced on other years.


Every other year than 2014 his votes are balanced. The fact still remains that he handed out all the low votes in 2014 and not even in ONE other year. To me that's obvious vote abuse. If he had given 3's and 4's every single year, you would've been right, but now you aren't.
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14.05.2014 - 01:43
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Erik M. on 14.05.2014 at 01:42

To me that's obvious vote abuse.

Well thank God you aren't a mod then
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14.05.2014 - 01:47
Rating: 7
Erik M.
Written by Guest on 14.05.2014 at 01:43

Well thank God you aren't a mod then


If those 3's and 4's were 1's you'd agree that it's vote abuse. You're falling for his trick in disguising himself as a vote abuser. It is vote abuse (fact), just not extreme enough for you to consider it as such, apparently.
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14.05.2014 - 01:48
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Erik M. on 14.05.2014 at 01:47

It is vote abuse (fact)

Prove it then. Prove that it's vote abuse and not a case of the user just happening to not like those albums.
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14.05.2014 - 01:50
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Elite
Erik for fuck sake get a life.
----
Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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14.05.2014 - 01:50
!J.O.O.E.!
Account deleted
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 14.05.2014 at 01:50

Erik for fuck sake get a life.

I have a feeling Erik sees votes in his sleep, instead of sheep.
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14.05.2014 - 01:54
Rating: 7
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Staff
What Joe said. Case closed. Let's talk about the actual album now please. If you have any questions or issues about how we decide which votes to delete, feel free to send me a PM.

EDIT: Erik, I will continue to delete all of your subsequent off-topic vote abuse comments. Give it a rest. Take it to private messages if necessary.
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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14.05.2014 - 02:29
Rating: 7
Erik M.
I have given it a rest, because I've already proven that I'm right.

Anyway, after 7 spins I'm not really feeling it, hence why I downgraded it. I feel it's on par with MotS, so 8-8.5 material (R'Vannith's review score is very accurate in my opinion) and therefore a lot worse than their other 3 albums.
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14.05.2014 - 21:04
Lethrokai
OOOOOooooooo it's at the top of the year chart!

Let the downvoting battle of the fanboys begin!
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Sometimes you just need to roll the dice and look away.
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14.05.2014 - 21:26
Rating: 8
Xylem
It's all subjective, of course, but I really don't feel like this deserves to be number 1, it was just pretty standard as far as I could tell. I applaud them for always releasing slightly different sounding albums but somewhere in evolving that sound they seem to have lost a lot of the dark, folky atmosphere that was present in the previous releases.
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14.05.2014 - 21:49
Rating: 8
The Melting Snow
Nice album.

Though i kept waiting for another song like Fire Above, Ice Below or Our Fortress is Burning... No song of the album actually made me feel. technically, instrumentally good, but just not enough emotion in there.
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A Metalhead's Lullaby
Best of 2023
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14.05.2014 - 21:50
Rating: 7
Alex F
Slick Dick Rick
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 14.05.2014 at 01:50

Erik for fuck sake get a life.

This made me laugh way too much.
After way too many listens this album is still holding up to my absurdly high rating and love of it. 2014 is an awesome year so far
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14.05.2014 - 21:57
Rating: 8
The Melting Snow
Uptill 2011 I think the top 20 albums were usually between 8.9 and 8.5 approx.

After that it's between 8.5 and 8.2 approx. Either the music has really lost it's touch, or too many people are downvoting bands and spoiling all the stats.

PS. I hate admins who threaten to delete comments or block people when they've got a point
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A Metalhead's Lullaby
Best of 2023
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14.05.2014 - 22:43
Rating: 7
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Staff
Written by The Melting Snow on 14.05.2014 at 21:57
Either the music has really lost it's touch, or too many people are downvoting bands and spoiling all the stats.

PS. I hate admins who threaten to delete comments or block people when they've got a point

In all honest it's probably a combination of the two.

PS. I hate users who continuously go off-topic about vote abuse when warned not to, especially after the user has been told their opinions are more than welcome in the form of a private message.
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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