Agalloch - Faustian Echoes

Agalloch - Faustian Echoes

2012/ Black metal, Doom metal, Post-black metal

Agalloch, Portland's gift to the world, are usually known for their distinct atmospheric black metal sound which mixes black metal to doom metal and neofolk and so on. They are also known for their EPs that somewhat differ from their main releases. 'Faustian Echoes' is not an exception, even though its sound is closer to Agalloch's full-lengths' than most of their EPs.

'Faustian Echoes' consists of just one 21.5 minute song, which is the longest recorded Agalloch song to date. The lyrics are actually taken directly from Goethe's play Faust's English translation. The music itself ranges from traditional black metal to funeral doomish parts and to the familiar post-black metal-esque sound of Agalloch. The song manages to keep consistency all the way to the end and all the transitions are executed without breaking the flow.

The use of the samples from the 1994 movie 'Faust' are an excellent addition and the presence of the samples is a prime example of a successful sample usage. The song wouldn't be as powerful as it is without the samples, but since the samples aren't that frequent, their absence wouldn't ruin the song. 'Faustian Echoes' is recommended to anyone into atmospheric black metal or post-metal.