Agalloch

Pale Folklore (The End)
by Scott Hefflon

Seemingly a good mixture of Goth rock and black metal vocals, occasional doomy plods, interspersed with wind-swept mountain views and staggering ballerina keyboard tinkles, Agalloch misses a few crucial points. For instance, their otherwise reputable Goth rock has a driving beat (you’re supposed to be able to dance to it, remember?) and dreamy, heavily-chorused guitar picking over distorted powerchords, but the ripped-throat vocals just don’t sit well on top. Ditto with the musical landscapes – wind and howling wolves are nice with that subtle Fields of the Nephilim guitarwork, but it never leads anywhere. Instead of getting a bird’s eye view of the scenery, you’re sitting in a tour bus as things swirl and stalk outside your window. While many bands have the good graces to add layers of baritone voices or a piecing siren, Agalloch stick to the same snakespit vocal, and a rather low key one at that. So while, yes, this is a debut of dark metal with many of the right elements, it’s epic metal mostly because each song is so long.
(556 S. Fair Oaks Ave. #101-111 Pasadena, CA 91105)