After two demo releases in the late 1990’s the band released three full-length albums: Pale Folklore (1999), The Mantle (2002), and Ashes Against the Grain (2006). “The Mantle” has since been heralded as a classic for having been one of the first albums to combine elements from black metal, neo-folk, progressive rock, post-rock, and ambient music. The influence of this record can be heard in the music of multiple “post-black metal” bands.
In 2008 Agalloch began re-releasing their demos, B-sides, and EPs under their own Dammerung Arthouse label. In 2010 their fourth album Marrow of the Spirit made number one on numerous critic’s top ten lists. In between each of these full-lengths the band pushed on the flexible boundaries they had developed around themselves through a series of EPs that found the band experimenting with post-rock/instrumental rock (The Grey, 2004), neo-folk/psychedelic folk (“The White EP, 2008) and a mammoth twenty-minute epic work entitled Faustian Echoes (2012) released through Dammerung Arts. Their fifth and last full-length album The Serpent & the Sphere (2014) has continued to earn praise for solidifying the now identifiable sound of the band.
Agalloch earned a reputation for explosive and emotional live performances. They sold out tours across Europe and the US and played a variety of major international festivals including: Roadburn, Inferno, Ragnarok, Tomahawk, Noctis, Asymmetry Fest, Maryland Deathfest, Scion Fest and others. The band took special care constructing the environment of each and every show with wood, incense, and imagery taken directly from their home in the Northwest. Such care made an Agalloch show more than just a typical heavy metal concert.
However, on May 13th, 2016, Agalloch announced their disbandment.
Regarding the band's disbanding, John Haughm previously released the following statement regarding the status of Agalloch:
"After being inundated by a barrage of responses, I feel that I should clarify some things. I take full responsibility for the decision to part ways with the other guys. It was difficult, well thought-out, and something that had been culminating over the past couple of years. I simply could not continue any further with the band as it was. I had to make a change as my motivation and inspiration had started to completely deteriorate. Whether this is the permanent end of Agalloch altogether or a possible fresh start, I don't know. I probably won't know for awhile. The band has simply been reduced back to its founding, visionary member for the first time in 20 years. Beyond that, the future is unknown."
In 2019, Haughm made comments on Facebook widely criticized as being anti-Semitic, and the other members of Agalloch released a statement claiming, "We vehemently condemn our former bandmate and want to make it clear that none of us share his reprehensible viewpoints. We have not had any direct contact with him since the breakup nearly 3 years ago... We are not friends."
The band later reformed in 2023 "with the intent of playing limited shows."
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Discography:
Studio albums:
1999 - Pale Folklore
2002 - The Mantle
2006 - Ashes Against the Grain
2010 - Marrow of the Spirit
2014 - The Serpent & the Sphere
EPs:
1997 - From Which of This Oak (demo)
1998 - Promo 1998 (demo)
2001 - Of Stone, Wind and Pillor
2003 - Tomorrow Will Never Come
2004 - The Grey EP
2004 - Agalloch / Nest (split with Nest)
2008 - The White EP
2012 - Faustian Echoes
Compilations:
2008 - The Demonstration Archive 1996-1998
2010 - The Compendium Archive
Singles:
2004 - A Fragment (Second Phase)
2010 - Nebelmeer (split with Mathias Grassow)
2010 - Fragment 4
2010 - Scars of the Shattered Sky
2010 - Where Shade Once Was
2011 - The Death of Man III
2011 - The Wolves of Timberline
2013 - Nihil Totem
2013 - The Weight of Darkness
2014 - Alpha Serpentis (Unukalhai)
A Desolation Song
Agalloch Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Liquor's bitter flames warm my languid soul
Here I drink alone and remember
A graven life, the stain of her memory
In this cup, love's poison
For love is the poison of life
Tip the cup, feed the fire,
And forget about useless hope
Lost in the desolation of love
The passions we reap and sow
Lost in the desolation of life
This path that we walk
Here's to love, the sickness
The great martyr of the soul
Here's to life, the vice
The great herald of misery
In this cup, spiritus frumenti
For this is the nectar of the spirit
Quench the thirst, drown the sorrow
And forget about cold yesterdays
Lost in the desolation of love
The passions we reap and sow
Lost in the desolation of life
This path that we walk
Lost in the desolation of love
The sorrows we reap and sow
Lost in the desolation of life
The path that we walk
The lyrics to Agalloch's "A Desolation Song" explore the destructive power of love and the ways in which it can consume us. The tone of the song is melancholic and introspective, as the singer reflects on lost love and the bitter memories that remain. The opening lines set the scene: the singer is sitting alone by a fire, drinking bitter liquor and remembering the stain of a former lover's memory. Love, he declares, is the poison of life - something that can both intoxicate and destroy us.
The second verse continues this theme, describing love as a sickness and life as a vice. The metaphor of alcohol continues, as the singer drinks "spiritus frumenti" - the nectar of the spirit - to try and quench his thirst and drown his sorrows. The chorus repeats the phrase "lost in the desolation of love" with variations, as the singer laments the passions and sorrows that we reap and sow on this path of life.
Overall, "A Desolation Song" is a powerful and haunting reflection on the pain that love can cause. The lyrics are poetic and evocative, painting a vivid picture of a lonely, introspective soul grappling with the demons of his past.
Line by Line Meaning
Here I sit at the fire
I find myself sitting next to a fire
Liquor's bitter flames warm my languid soul
I drink liquor to warm up my tired and sluggish self
Here I drink alone and remember
I drink by myself and reminisce
A graven life, the stain of her memory
I carry the burden of a bleak and depressing life because of a particular memory of hers
In this cup, love's poison
The drink in my cup is the harmful poison of love
For love is the poison of life
Love is the toxin that slowly and painfully destroys life
Tip the cup, feed the fire,
I tip my cup over and fuel the fire some more
And forget about useless hope
I choose to overlook hope that is meaningless and empty
Lost in the desolation of love
I am trapped in the vast emptiness of love
The passions we reap and sow
We receive and produce intense feelings and emotions
Lost in the desolation of life
I am alone and hopeless in the bleakness of life
This path that we walk
The journey that we are all on
Here's to love, the sickness
A toast to love, the illness that consumes and weakens our spirit
The great martyr of the soul
The noble sacrifice of the spirit
Here's to life, the vice
A toast to life, the wicked behavior that leads to harm and corruption
The great herald of misery
The messenger that brings only sorrow
In this cup, spiritus frumenti
This cup holds the alcoholic drink called spiritus frumenti
For this is the nectar of the spirit
It is the sweet and divine substance that can uplift the soul
Quench the thirst, drown the sorrow
Drink more to satisfy the thirst and drown out the sadness
And forget about cold yesterdays
Let go of the unpleasant memories of the past
Lost in the desolation of love
Trapped in the vast emptiness of love
The sorrows we reap and sow
We experience and produce sadness and grief
Lost in the desolation of life
Hopeless and alone in the bleakness of life
The path that we walk
The course of action that we take in life
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind