When the gentle strike upon a guitar chord sounds more like a gentle brise of air, that caresses the branches of naked trees, and images of man-forsaken woods and lakes are projected in your mind, then there is only one album we can talk about: Agallochs masterpiece of musical escapism Pale Folklore!
The journey into natural paradises of undescribable and miraculous beauty already begins when you lie your sight upon the album cover which shows nothing more but the surface of a plank of wood with the band name written on it by using trees, branches and roots. The tracklist is also held in a quite ornamental style of writing. Upon holding your copy in your hands, the smell of wood resin on a warm and sunny day in autumn will crawl into your nose and awake a sense of addiction that can only be satisfied through thorough consumption of the music. However that consumption shall be one of all your senses at the same time. Sure your ears will be pleased by the gentle, discrete and effective drum patterns and the catchy acoustic melodies and chords but it is only when you involve all your senses that listening to this album will be like a holiday for you which you spent with taking long walks through enchanted forests and up and down some little hills whose assimilations of mist is taken off by a swiftly rising sun.
It is only by involving all your senses that you will feel an uplifting sensation of calm and peace as the etheral melodies and monumental arrangements of “The Misshapen Steed” will cast their spells of enchantment upon your stressed body and soul, that the fast paced “Hallmans Of Enchanted Ebony” will make you want to discover yet unexplored territories, while the lofty and angelic vocals in “As Embers Dress The Sky” will create a sensation of just letting go for a while from all that could be a heavy weight upon your shoulders. Relax, and do not sob and get into “The Melancholy Spirit” since you can always press the play button as often as you wish to send your soul on this wonderful journey over and over again… isn’t life great?
-David
VITALS:
Release: 1999
Label: The End Records
Avantgenre: Enchantment Spellcasting Epic Woodland Metal
Duration: 62:12
Origin: USA
Official site: http://www.agalloch.org
Review online since: 09.02.2008 / 21:32:02
| TRACKLIST:
01 – She Painted Fire Across The Skyline I |
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