Day 15: A Celebration For The Death Of Man by Agalloch // 7.5

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Image result for THe Mantle agallochgenre: folk metal, progressive metal,
drink: strawberry and banana smoothie
Agalloch is a new band that I've come across, and it made sense to me to listen to every song on one of their albums (The Mantle, 2002) and document each one. In other words, it's a special series! Starting off with the album opener: A Celebration For The Death Of Man.

 Right off the bat, a timpani roars and introduces a rich acoustic guitar. The melody (if you can even call it that) in the guitar creates a slight dissonance as it moves through the chord progression. With the timpani leading the march, a low, droning, distorted guitar adds color and build up the song. 

 Being only two minutes long, this piece establishes a mood for the remaining album. In the far off distance, you can almost hear tribal instruments decorating the canvas. Over time, they only become more and more prominent, inciting a sort of mellow march. I don't know if I can really consider this a whole song, as it's meant to be a smaller part of a much more grand album. Nonetheless, it serves its role as a build up to something astonishing, with an appropriate somber and haunting choice of instrumentation to boot. 

 Rating: 7.5/10


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