AGALLOCH - The Serpent & the Sphere

Spiritual Oregano

Hello and welcome to my first Agalloch review. Open your eyes, raise your arms and behold the beauty of the universe... You may wonder what's the reason for such a theatrical introduction, so I hasten to explain that primo, Agalloch has never started an album with a more exalted track than "Birth and Death of the Pillars of Creation" (oh come on, really?). Secundo, the whole album is incredibly solemn. So, I just had to keep pace with the band, you see! The Serpent and the Sphere is the fifth LP from Agalloch, preceded by bleak and raw Marrow of the Spirit. This one on the other hand is much more accessible. And here's why...

Before I tell you why, one more thing. Don't think I'm belittling the concept behind this album. If only for how consistent every Agalloch album is, the band should be praised. As usual music, artwork and lyrics complete each other and create a stunningly atmospheric whole. Still, even though the sound production fits the music on The Serpent and the Sphere pretty well, I can't help but miss the raw black metal sound of the previous record. Agalloch's music relies on atmospheric layers rather than composition complexity and doesn't really need such a polished sound production. It just seems more genuine with a rawer one. Songwriting itself is strong as ever, even if I got a deja vu more than once. While Agalloch doesn't necessarily get stale, the polished sound would allow of more experimental approach. What we got instead is an atmospheric doom/black metal album that sounds a tad less post-metal. Neo-folk influences, on the other hand seem to have gained more ground. I may not like all the changes in direction but, despite all that, it's a very enjoyable and catchy record. Just another proof that Agalloch's got the magic, no matter what!

Every so often I catch myself turning a blind eye to anything that, in my humble opinion, Agalloch does wrong. Songwriting is sometimes rough, and pathos sometimes too abundant. Yet still this music is so honest and genuine that I can't help but get carried away with it. Even though a little less bold than before, Agalloch still stands out as one of the more original extreme metal acts. All fans of atmospheric metal should give this album a go, especially newcomers, as The Serpent and the Sphere is their most accessible release to date.

KAYO DOT - Coffins On Io

Stellar!

Imagine a silver string stretched out across the room. Every of its seven segments is decked with objects of such a variety in shape, size, weight and colour, that they almost seem to be a random streak of elements, suspended magically in space. You can barely see what's linking them all. Yet every time Toby Driver and his ever changing team puts out an album, you instantly recognize who pulls that string. While Hubardo could be, as a last resort, described as a summary of all things Kayo Dot-ish, maudlin-ish and Driver-ish in general, Coffins on Io, just like Coyote before it, is a venture into new territories. 

However, while Coyote treads a bumpy path of chamber disharmony, Coffins on Io, instead of treading a path on foot, drives a Mustang '67 convertible along a desolate highway with southern lights in the night sky above. Every Kayo Dot album features a conceptual basis that provides the whole thing with a core. Even Hubardo was strangely consistent despite its eclecticism. Coffins on Io on the other hand is a rather focused effort... for this band. It is indeed an album heavily inspired by retro-futuro artists of the 80s, Vangelis to name just one. Equally noticeable is David Bowie's influence, especially thanks to Toby Driver's charismatic vocal delivery. You can also get some Joy Division vibes, especially in the second track. Brian Ferry also comes to mind. Generally speaking, songwriting is more minimal compared to the previous album and more focused on subtle evolution through repetition of themes. All that gives the album a quite psychedelic character. Still, somehow Kayo Dot once again escapes categorization and despite more traceable influences than ever before, it's still a band one of its kind.

Coffins on Io charms the listener with dreamy psychedelia and retro pop touches, but as any other Kayo Dot album it requires more than just your attention - it requires you to discover and feel the creative passion that boils just like the magma underneath the surface of Io. As your perception of the music evolves with time, the album does so as well, and before you know it, you're submerged in a polyphonic hell. And you know what? If this kind of hell exists, I'm going to sin as much as possible just to get there.

CLOAK OF ALTERING - Plague Beasts

Altering Forever

True artists are restless, insatiable, always looking for modes of expression that would satisfy nobody else but themselves. Not us, mind you. You're just a guest, a spectator of this eternal struggle between artist and his creation. Ahhh, and Mories. Those who came across this man know exactly how unwelcoming he can be. Plague Beasts, third full-length record under the aegis of Cloak of Altering, is another experimental record that catches Mories fusing his diverse styles into one whole. And as usual, it's very well done.

Not as well as it used to be, though. Two previous records presented Cloak of Altering as a well blended combination of black metal, industrial electronica, classical and noise. Plague Beasts consists of pretty much the same ingredients, with a stronger emphasis put on electronic and noise aspects of the music. If you're familiar with the band and its black metal roots are known to you, you can easily trace them. It may not be so obvious to newcomers, though. For the most part Mories' songwriting is as strong as ever. Unrelenting, polyphonic assault of devilish tremolos, ominous symphonic synthesizers and seemingly chaotic syncopation suck you into a whirlwind of beautiful insanity. You can actually see the genuine passion put into this music as it bleeds out of your ears. Still, as much as I hate track-by-track approach, I have to say "Ash666urA" and "Into Celestial Hell", due to their more straightforwardly noisy character, feel a little uninspired in comparison with the rest of the album.

Plague Beasts is another step in CoA's exploration of the unique blend of avant-garde black metal and electronica known from previous releases. While it's easier to mark out individual sound elements this time round, it still is a strangely consistent, yet in parts flawed, record. Recommendable to metal and electronica fans with a weakness for a full-on approach, Cloak Altering latest album is another quality release from the enfant terrible of experimental underground.