AGALLOCH — From Which Of This Oak (review)

AGALLOCH — From Which Of This Oak album cover Demo · 1997 · Melodic Black Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Phonebook Eater
What an excellent debut for a band like Agalloch, that surely demonstrated that they are one of the finest Metal groups today. But in "From Which Of this Oak", they still are an immature, and not -ready-to-rise band. But this is indeed an impressive debut, for being just an EP: in fact, this just might be the best Agalloch EP ever.

The sub genre here isn't Doom Metal yet, like in their following efforts, but it is still very attached to Black Metal roots. The production also is rougher than the other albums, but it cannot be exactly defined as lo-fi, and some interesting folk passages are present.

the EP has four songs:

"The Wilderness", a Black Metal masterpiece, that has everything the genre needs: Black growls, fast shredding guitars, desperate atmosphere, but with interesting acoustic moments. Definitely an underrated song.

"As Embers Dress The Sky" just might be one of my favorite Agalloch songs: great melodies, great performances, a nice delicate part in the middle of the song, and an outstanding grand finale, with shredding guitars. Beautiful.

"Foliorum Viridium", which means " Of the Green Leaves", is an atmospheric piece, that reminds in many moments a fantasy movie score. It is all instrumental. This version is longer and has a different ending than the version of "Of Stone, Wind And Pillor". The finale has electric guitars playing, which is what brought down this amazing song. I prefer the latter version in the other EP. I must say it's a shame it never ended in a studio album.

"This Old Cabin" is what, in my opinion, really brought down the rating of the album. A little too long, but it has some nice moments here and there. Similar to "The Wilderness", but nowhere near as good.

This album has it's moments, that's for sure, I would surely listen to it if I was a Black Metal fan, or even a fan of the band. It also has some interesting moments that could be easily be defined as progressive. 3.5 stars.
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