Agalloch – The Grey EP
This is just a two track MCD, limited to 1000 copies, but the music comes in at close to 21 minutes. The first track on here is a reworking of the “The Lodge” off of “The Mantle” called “The Lodge (dismantled)” (wink) and reflects the alternate version of the track that the band played on their recent brief touring stints. It’s a layered, droning instrumental, with a sweeping and grandiose quality built from what is really a very simple structure. The melody and atmosphere is that which you would expect from Agalloch, but executed in a slightly different fashion than you have previously heard from them, leaning much more toward Post rock influences than Metal more so than ever before probably, and ending with a good three minutes of guitar noise and feedback. The second track is a remix of “Odal” also from “The Mantle” as executed by Nothing, which for those that don’t know is the Dark Noise project of Agalloch bassist JWW. The track uses only “Odal” as source but ultimately bares virtually no resemblance to the “Odal” you would be familiar with from the record. Its begins with a low, percussive throb that gives way to a humming backwards melody. Reverberating tones, percussion and clanks eventually build up around that and descend away again, to a variation of the opening gritty pulse and then a brooding loop with a beleaguered grandfather clock feel emerges to wind the piece down. “The Grey EP” is the final chapter in a trilogy that also includes “The Mantle” and the “Tomorrow Will Never Come” 7″. – Scott
VENDLUS
Worm Gear 