Agalloch - Pale Folklore - 2CD ARTBOOK

Deluxe 2-CD Book edition by the US Dark Metal Legends.

Solid hardbound book edition featuring golden hot foil finish, 54 pages with artwork, lyrics, and information, printed with golden highlights. Extensive liner notes from press and musicians and specifically curated interview related to the album itself. Double CD set with Pale Folklore on Disc 1, and the whole early/demo material of „The Demonstration Archive“ + one unreleased track version as a bonus, on Disc 2.

Although 'Pale Folklore' stands as Agalloch`s debut record, it already embodies several elements that later became part of the band`s signature sound. Effortlessly picking up from their excellent demonstration cassette, it sees the band refining their sound even further. An audio amalgamation combining the profoundness of early Ulver, with the gloom of old Katatonia and the exalted boldness of Fields of the Nephilim, thus adding unique elements of nostalgia and atmosphere to their own melodic interplay of guitars and excellent musical framework. The album contains strong signs of a band that knew at a young age how to draw their canvas. Influenced by the landscapes of the American Pacific Northwest, and with an essence reminiscent of the Scandinavian wilderness, it firmly put Agalloch on the map and raised eyebrows about what a band from North America can be capable of.

As a person that grew up checking out records based on their cover artwork alone, this album was particularly notable - the wood grain cover with a gold emblazoned logo engraving was instantly enthralling. This is music that glorifies the night sky, envisions campfire magic, heralds nature over humans, arcane arts & poetry, and worships the beauty of a crackling fireplace. It could be the soundtrack for a lone wanderer striving through a wintry storm, only to end up knocking on a faded wooden door to find shelter in a desolate cabin. In many ways the sound of forlorn times.

If you are looking to fill your heart with woodsmoke and the fire of the mountain's spirit, look no further.

"Pale Folklore was a watershed moment in American heavy music, when a few young musicians with a shared love of underground death metal – and broad personal tastes beyond – turned their already virtuosic talents toward a fresh hybrid of metal and neofolk through a gothic lens." Daniel Lake / author of USBM: A Revolution of Identity in American Black Metal

Tracklist:

CD 1 - Pale Folklore
1-3. She Painted Fire Across The Skyline
4. The Mishapen Steed
5. Hallways Of Enchanted Ebony
6. Dead Winter Days
7. As Embers Dress The Sky
8. The Melancholy Spirit

CD 2 - The Demonstration Archive 1996-1998 + Bonus
From Which Of This Oak demo
1. The Wilderness
2. As Embers Dress The Sky
3. Folirorum Viridium
4. This Old Cabin

Of Stone, Wind, & Pillor 7” EP
5. Of Stone, Wind, & Pillor
6. Foliorum Viridium
7. Haunting Birds

Promo ‘98
8. Hallways Of Enchanted Ebony
9. The Melancholy Spirit
Bonus:
10. Ashes in the Snow

4-track sketch, recorded by Haughm in 1998, of a track intended for Pale Folklore but was scrapped in favor of “Hallways of Enchanted Ebony”. It was later renamed “The Hawthorne Passage” and used on The Mantle.