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Photo courtesy of Peter
Soriah
Agalloch is slowly beginning to crawl out of their cave of reclusion.  Their live shows are becoming a little more frequent and expansive.  Of course, compared to most metal bands, their live shows are still very scarce, but for Agalloch, it’s picking up.  After touring Europe again, they actually had two stops in America’s Midwest before coming home to Portland for the second day of the Fall Into Darkness festival.  Plus, they have released a live DVD.

A year and a half from their last US show, I once again found myself traveling up to the Pacific Northwest for my fourth experience in seeing Agalloch in person.  This time however, it would be nearly November and the gloom of the environment would finally complement Agalloch’s sound.  The past times had been in the summer and the early spring, but Agalloch will always manage to create a winter-like atmosphere in whatever venue they’re playing at whatever time of the year.

A few things can always be expected from one of their shows such as the kind of bands accompanying them on the bill.  If you’re expecting a purely “metal” show, then you’re going to be disappointed.  It’s basically certain that you’re going to see some off-the-wall types of bands that most people in attendance would probably never go out of their way to see, mostly from the ritualistic, hippie and oddly progressive types of music and with only the occasional metal band.  In the past, they shared the stage with bands like Waldteufel, which is a German folk band complete with a pre-show ritual and burning torches.  Progressive rockers Giant Squid and Grayceon have played with them, as well as Wolves in the Throne Room and In Memorium (the Seattle band).

This year was probably the best example of this out of all the times I’ve seen them.  Opening the night was Fauna; a Wolves in the Throne Room type of band who have very long, droning black metal songs with a huge emphasis on nature.  They did several short ritual dance-sort-of-things before and during the songs in almost complete darkness on stage, save for a few candles.  They had the face paint and long beards with animal skin dresses and no shirts, clearly trying to come across as some kind of Neanderthal, forest people.  The music was basically a wall of sound in that ambient, droning black metal style, which means that their set was exceedingly long and boring.  Wouldn’t have been bad for about 40 minutes I guess, but over an hour for the opening band?  No.
swing them around dramatically when the music would call for it. The other member of the band played the guitar and the keyboard and just kind of walked around the stage.  The music was sort of slow and dramatic with the singer making all kinds of gestures and throwing his head back at times.  Really strange band.
The next band was Soriah, which are a heavily nature-themed, ritualistic folk duet.  The singer was probably in the weirdest, yet most interesting outfit I’ve seen.  He was in mostly white, baggy clothing with a huge pointed hat, which wasn’t too far off from a sagging wizard’s hat, except that this one had all manner of things protruding out of it like twigs and branches and antlers.  He also had some strange cloth or something wrapped around his head that went from around the sides of face and under his jaw which, made his face look very large and round.  It might have been helping to keep his hat on his head, but it blended in because his face was colored white to match the fabric, and in the smoky haze, it was hard to tell.      He held antlers in his  hands  and  would
Amber Asylum
Photo courtesy of Peter
Amber Asylum was next and clearly was the most out-of-place band on the bill.  While they have had a multitude of contributors from noted metal bands in the Bay Area, they’re essentially a female-fronted string group.  Violin, cello and piano make up most of their melancholic sound.  The singer has an absolutely incredible voice and they are all supremely talented, but as the direct support to Agalloch?  I’m all for contrast in a live show.  Nothing is more boring than six brutal death metal bands in a row, but this kind of contrast was doing nothing but sucking the air out of the venue.
Photo courtesy of Peter
Soriah
When they finished, it was finally time for Agalloch to come on.  The crowd grew quickly and, before you knew it, it was hard to move around.  I’m going to preface what I’m about to say about their set with this: seeing Agalloch live is almost a religious experience to me, and I’m the first person to give them the benefit of the doubt when things don’t always go right on stage.  The problem was that up to that point, every show of theirs I had been at had been nearly flawless, with every song sounding exactly as it does on the records.  They opened with “As Embers Dress the Sky,” and halfway through, Don’s guitar went out, which forced them to stop all together.  When it was resolved, they had to just continue on to the next song.  Everything went well until “Limbs” and “Not Unlike the Waves.”
Photo courtesy of Peter
Amber Asylum
I don’t know what was going on, but the beginning of “Limbs” was so off that I couldn’t even tell what song it was and the guitar tone on “Not Unlike the Waves” was way too high, so the song sounded nothing like it should have.  I was also under the impression that they had added “The Lodge” to their set-list in place of one of the regulars, as they had played it at the Midwest shows, but they did not play it for the Portland show.  Maybe they scrapped it because of the sound problems they were having, but I had been looking forward to it. 
Agalloch
Aside from the mishaps, the rest of the set went along well and the usual songs were perfect, namely “In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion,” which is just so majestic in the live setting that it puts me in a trance.  I’m still slightly upset that they won’t play “Odal” anymore.  The complete set-list was: “As Embers Dress the Sky,” “Dead Winter Days,” “Falling Snow,” “In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion,” “I am the Wooden Doors,” “Limbs,” “Not Unlike the Waves” and “Bloodbirds.”
Agalloch
Agalloch's Jason William Walton
Of the four times I’ve seen them, this was easily the most disappointing in terms of supporting acts and their set itself, but even a sub-par Agalloch show is still better than a lot of shows you’ll ever see.  They can’t be perfect every time, but they had certainly spoiled me up to then.
Check out Peter's report of Fall into Darkness Day 3 - 2009 here
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TO THE TOP
December 2, 2009
Reporter: Jesse   -   Photos by Jesse & Peter
Fall into Darkness Festival: Day 2 - 2009
Berbatis Pan
231 SW Ankeny St.
Portland, OR,  97204 USA

BANDS AND SHOW TIMES:

Thurs. - Oct. 29, 2009 -  8:30 p.m.
Makoto Kawabata
Acid Mother's Temple
SubArachnoid Space
& Earth

Fri. - Oct. 30, 2009 - 7:00 p.m.
Fauna, Soriah, Amber
Asylum, & Agalloch

Sat. - Oct. 31, 2009 - 8:30 p.m.
Atriarch, Saviors,
Witch Mountain,
Ludicra, & YOB