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)
Summerisle Reprise
Agalloch Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
"And the ministers fled the island never to return. What my grandfather started out of expediency, my father continued out of love. He brought me up the same way: to reverence the music, and the drama, and the rituals of the old gods; to love nature and to fear it, and to rely on it and to appease it when necessary. He brought me up —"
Sergeant Howie:
"He brought you up to be a pagan!"
Lord Summerisle:
"A heathen, conceivably, but not, I hope, an unenlightened one."
The lyrics to Agalloch's song Summerisle Reprise are a dialogue between Lord Summerisle and Sergeant Howie from the 1973 British horror film, The Wicker Man. Lord Summerisle explains how his family, starting with his grandfather, began revering the "old gods" out of expediency, and his father continued out of love. He was brought up to share these beliefs, to appreciate the rituals and music of the old gods, and to both love and fear nature. The Sergeant responds by accusing Lord Summerisle of being brought up as a pagan, to which Lord Summerisle responds by acknowledging that he was raised as a heathen, but hopes that he is not unenlightened.
The dialogue in the song highlights the theme of religion and tradition, as well as the clash between modern Christian beliefs and the ancient pagan beliefs of the islanders. The lyrics suggest that the beliefs and practices of the old gods are deeply ingrained in the culture of the island and are passed down through generations. Lord Summerisle's statement that he was not unenlightened shows that he values the knowledge and wisdom of the old gods.
Overall, the lyrics to Summerisle Reprise capture the ongoing tension between different belief systems, and their influence on the lives of the people on the island.
Line by Line Meaning
And the ministers fled the island never to return.
The ministers left the island forever and never returned because they feared the pagan traditions and rituals of the old gods.
What my grandfather started out of expediency, my father continued out of love.
My ancestors started the pagan traditions on this island out of necessity, but my father continued them out of love for the old gods.
He brought me up the same way: to reverence the music, and the drama, and the rituals of the old gods; to love nature and to fear it, and to rely on it and to appease it when necessary.
My father raised me to respect the music, drama, and rituals associated with the old gods, to appreciate and fear the power of nature, and to appease it when necessary.
He brought me up —
He raised me in this way.
"He brought you up to be a pagan!"
You were raised to practice the pagan religion.
"A heathen, conceivably, but not, I hope, an unenlightened one."
I may be considered a heathen by some, but I hope that I am not ignorant or unenlightened in my beliefs.
Contributed by Riley O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.