The Serpent & the Sphere

Where do I start? This is Agalloch's last album and it's pretty disappointing because this is what they came up with for the album to end their career. Maybe they will make a comeback and make a new album, but no one knows for sure. Just like the title of this review states, this is everything Agalloch has done recycled. Granted, there are new musical elements on this album that Agalloch has not done before. However, the whole execution is what makes this album simply not as good as all their other albums.

The atmosphere is different from their other albums which is something Agalloch does to every album they have made, so this is no surprise. The atmosphere on this album makes me feel like I'm walking through some kind of cave or mine, the production on this album complements this atmosphere. Speaking of the production, it is very solid. But however you can't just help but feel that it feels recycled because it uses a lot of the same elements that earlier Agalloch albums have had. Acoustic passages, loud vocals at certain parts in songs, crushing guitar riffs and crushing guitar melodies and guitar riffs that just sound like ripoffs of riffs from their older albums. However, like I said earlier, there are some new elements. For example, the bass playing and the bass tone is different. Usually in Agalloch albums, the bass is low in the mix, mainly just plays root notes and does not have a lot of treble. On this album, the bass is different, it is more noticeable in the mix, plays more fills and has added treble and added mids, what's even better is that this bass tone sounds natural, it doesn't sound like it has post processing in the overall tone. The drumming is different too, on this album the drums build up intensity in climatic parts of the songs which is something Agalloch has not done before.

Another issue I have with this album is that it doesn't really seem to strike some kind of emotion to me. Usually Agalloch will have emotions of depression and sorrow, but here, I just don't feel anything. The first track and the acoustic guitar only tracks I can feel some of those vibes of depression and sorrow that they had on their earlier albums. But despite that, every other song is just really straightforward with little experimentation. And that is not something you would expect considering this album is all their work recycled.

However, even though there are new elements on this album, the whole album is just really boring. Even though are some enjoyable moments and aspects on this album. Like I said before, there are elements that are unchanged which makes me not like this album as much as the others. But the worst part is that this album pretends to be something original. With the new elements thrown in and the new atmosphere but everything else the same this album just feels pretentious. Whats also bad is that like I said before, this is their last album and this was not the way to end off their career. But honestly don't know if they could've done any better than this.