The Mantle

The Mantle

Editorial Reviews
Product Description
Sophomore release by Agalloch from Portland, OR. The Mantle is a grand multi-dimensional opus of 70 minutes featuring their melancholic metal with post rock and neo-folk elements. References range from Pink Floyd, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Sol Invictus, Ulver, Dissection, Fields Of The Nephilim and more. The End Records. 2002.

Tracks:

A Celebration For The Death Of Man
In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion
Odal
I Am The Wooden Doors
The Lodge
You Were But A Ghost In My Arms
The Hawthorne Passage
...And The Great Cold Death Of The Earth
A Desolation Song

Album Description

Sophomore release by Agalloch from Portland, OR. The Mantle is a grand multi-dimensional opus of 70 minutes featuring their melancholic metal with post rock and neo-folk elements. References range from Pink Floyd, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Sol Invictus, Ulver, Dissection, Fields Of The Nephilim and more. The End Records. 2002.

Customer Reviews:

Simply put one of the greatest albums from any genre.......2007-07-11

The first time I heard the Mantle I didn't think it was anything special.

What was wrong with me I'll never understand, as ever since that time I've come to hold this as one of my all time favorite albums. An album I could listen to every day of the week and never tire of it, a perfect 10/10, 100% album, something very rare.

I don't know what made it click, but something did, and ever since then it's been a perpetual admiration for all things, but more particularly this album, Agalloch.

Opeth. Constantly this band draws comparisons to Opeth, simply, because people are idiots who believe that if two bands have some minute detail in common, OMG LONG SONGS, that comparison is necessary.

Opeth couldn't hold a candle to Agalloch; where with Opeth the songwriting is predictable and the lyrics are on the verge of corny, Agalloch are always fresh, like classical music, even after numerous listens & the lyrics are deeply poetic, heartfelt and things of absolute beauty. (Now, I said comparing them was stupid, I wasn't comparing them, I was pointing out the differences, I like Opeth but only in small doses.)

Well, the album in whole is a thing of miraculous beauty, but the lyrics are one of the stronger aspects, for a fine example see "You Were But A Ghost In My Arms", my personal favorite track.

An atmospheric masterpiece, even when Summer is upon us and the weather is in the 90's, put this in your CD player and you'll swear you can see your breath in the cold air around you.

Agalloch is just amazing!.......2007-06-30

I adore all of Agalloch's work but I have to say this is among the best. If you're a fan of music as I am (mostly into funeral doom, black, death, symphonic black, gothic, neoclassical, viking/folk) then you'll find a deep appreciation for this album as I have. It's a staple album so if you have their newer Ashes or older Pale album then you'll need this one.

Melancholy beauty.......2007-03-02

This is one of the most brilliant albums I have ever come across. Since this album is made up of mostly acoustic, slow paced riffage.. it seems rather wrong to classify this as metal. Sure there are some black metal 'screeching' vocals way behind the mix every once and a while, but personally, I look at this album as more of a atmospheric progressive rock ablum.

The entire preformance is layered with reverb, giving it a ghostly sound, accompanied by melancholy vocals and a slight tinge of almost isis-esque musicianship. Though this is structurally a simple album aimed more at atmosphere than anything else, there are still brilliant moments of wonderful guitar solos, space-rock like effects, and swelling dynamics.

Nothing here is overdone, nothing is overly repetitive, and nothing seems out of place. A must have for any fan of atmospheric music.. metal or not.

A Haunting and Beautiful Album..........2007-02-12

I must say that this CD has engendered some of the most eloquent user reviews I've ever seen here. To avoid lowering the level of discourse or making redundant statements, some notes on THE MANTLE's elegant packaging:

Agalloch hails from Portland, Oregon, and THE MANTLE's cover showing a bull elk is from an immense bronze statue that's downtown. It was donated to Portland by a former mayor in 1900, and was immediately controversial. The local chapter of the Elks organization reviled the beast as a long-necked "monstrosity of art." (Other parties called it a "fossilized stag" and a "gargoyle quadruped.")

According to the Portland Municipal Report of 1900, the elk symbolizes "the conquest of wild nature by the forces of civilization" (choke, gag, sputter). This is particularly interesting in light of the themes that Agalloch explores on THE MANTLE, as exemplifed by the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote included on the CD itself: "The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship."

I have no idea as to whether Agalloch was aware of any of this or if they just thought the elk looked cool. Regardless, the group's articulate lyrics show that they are certainly capable of having given the matter thought, and that, combined with their epic yet subtle music makes me very happy indeed.

absolute perfection.......2006-10-18

This band is stunning! they have produced one of those rare albums where everything is in its perfect place, everything is relative, it need nothing extra and nothing is unneeded on the album. The songs are brilliant by themselves but are 100 times stronger when they are together and create the brilliant whole that is, the mantle.
Where do you start with agalloch? First and foremost is the atmosphere of the album. It is the most atmospheric album i have ever heard. Each track workd with one another to create one huge progression throught this masterpeice. The album has a cold,white desolate, solatary, isolated, beautiful atmosphere. It sounds like the soundtrack to walking through snow covered pine forests in the arctic or something like that. There is even samples of wind and bots trudging through snow. It is one of those records which throughout its duration paints a crystal clear mental image in ones head.
This band gets compared to opeth. That is not acurate at all. Its true they both have lonely, epic atmospheres to them, but where opeth is warm and claustrophobic, agalloch are white, open, expansive, cold.
There is black metal vocals, there is beautifully haunting clean vocals. there is acoustic guitars, distorted guitars, all manner of instruments which add to the effect, like traditional horns and such.
Opeth never get particularily heavy. Although they use some screaming, double pedals etc... it always comes across as perfectly ...expressive, as opposed to slamming and heavy.

There is 4 instrumentals on this album and 5 "real" songs. They rerealy fall much short of the 10 minute mark. There is a variation of dynamics in this album and the use of unuasual instruments make it even more varied. The song structures are brilliant, they are not verse-chorus simple structure, they are progressive and evolve, like opeth. There is howeve a couple of shorter, verse-chorus songs that end te album, giving a beautiul sense of ending and closure. This is what i mean..everything in this album is perfect!

the lyrics are brilliant too...telling stories at times. They are black metal style lyrics..worshipping nature, allbeit very intelligently and subtly. There is referances to "oak" and "pantheons" all adding to the natural imagery.

I will not narrow my recomendation to anyone! anybody who can appreciate atmospheric, intelligent music should buy this and listen to it ove and over again. It should be listened to as a whole, notas individual songs, and given genuine time and thought....this is not background music! but whatever you put into the listening of this album you will get out tenfold.

Average customer rating:

Better than Phillip Glass!

Big Wednesday

Manufacturer: Film Score Monthly
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

Movie Scores | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

Movie Soundtracks | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Soundtracks | Styles | Music

General | Vocal Pop | Pop | Styles | Music
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Big Wednesday (Ws Sub)
Hardknox
The Lotte Berk Method: High Round Assets
Yo Soy Betty, la Fea
Kundalini

ASIN: B0006SSPTO
Release Date: 2005-01-11

Tracks:

South Swell (Passing of the Years I)/Main Title (March of the Hawaiian
Matt Surfs/Kaliponi Slack Key/Bear's Shack
Bear's Story
Golondrina
Passing of the Years II
You Oughta Know What I Mean, Bear
Bear's Wedding
Crumple Car - Denny Aaberg
Preparation March
Jack Surfs Alone
Aloha, Jack
Passing of the Years III
Summerset
Liquid Dreams
Jack's Back
Jack's Back, Pt. 2
Cemetery
Passing of the Years IV
Bear's Wharf
Matt Morning and Ominosity
Challenge/Big Wednesday Montage
Matt's Rite of Passage
Passing of the Mantle/Song of Three Friends (Only Good Times)
Big Wednesday Montage [Alternate Take][*]
Three Friends Theme [*][Instrumental]
Mexican Montage [*]
Green Onions [*]
Crumple Car [Extended Version][*] - Denny Aaberg
Drums Montage [*]
Cosmic Indifference [*]
Cemetery [Film Version][*]
Challenge [Alternate Take][*]
Trailer (Big Waves) [*]

Customer Reviews:

Better than Phillip Glass!.......2005-05-07

For some time I have thought that Basil Poledouris's score for *Big Wednesday* was among the best in the genre. Unfortunately, fans of this work have had to make do with the so-so sound quality of the home video versions.

This CD was lovingly remastered from the original studio sessions. The sound quality is simply breathtaking. Even the DVD movie sound is only a pale shadow in comparison with this CD.

I was especially delighted by the alternate and extended arrangements, which include the original versions of pieces that had to be shortened and simplified to work in the movie.

The linear notes are extremely well-written and informative. I learned more about *Big Wednesday* from this CD than from any other source.

Kudos to Film Score Monthly for releasing such an important soundtrack in such a fine edition!

A Meal You Can Shake Hands With in the Dark/ Mantle-Piece

Average customer rating:

A Meal You Can Shake Hands With in the Dark/ Mantle-Piece
Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments
Manufacturer: Bgo - Beat Goes on
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music

General | Rock | Styles | Music

Progressive Rock | Progressive | Rock | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Indie Music | Stores | Music

Jazz | Imports | Stores | Music

Rock | Imports | Stores | Music
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Joy of a Toy
Whatevershebringswesing
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Little Red Record

ASIN: B000056H47
Release Date: 2001-02-05

Tracks:

Dark Lady - Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments
Old Man - Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments
Station Song - Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments
Politician - Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments
Rainy Taxi Girl - Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments
Morning Call - Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments
Sandcastle - Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments
Traveling Blues (Or the New Used Jew's Dues Blues) - Pete Brown & His Battered Ornaments

Tracks:

Sunshades - The Battered Ornaments
Late into the Night - The Battered Ornaments
Then I Must Go - The Battered Ornaments
Crosswords and the Safety Pins - The Battered Ornaments
Staggered - The Battered Ornaments
Twisted Track - The Battered Ornaments
Smoke Rings - The Battered Ornaments
Take Me Now - The Battered Ornaments
My Love's Gone Far Away - The Battered Ornaments
Week Looked Good on Paper [*] - The Battered Ornaments

Album Description

UK reissue combines two of the acclaimed songwriter's albums with the Battered Ornaments, 'A Meal You Can Shake Hands With In The Dark' (1969) and 'Mantle-Piece' (1970). Best known for writing the lyrics to many of Cream's major hits, 'Sunshine Of your Life', 'White Room', 'I Feel Free', 'Politician', Brown also worked with the band Piblokto, The First Real Poetry Band featuring guitarist John McLaughlin and the poets Allen Ginsberg and Robert Creeley. Includes one bonus track, 'The Week Looked Good On Paper'. 2000 release. Standard jewel case.

Album Details

Twofer Reissue of his First Two Late 60's Solo Ventures. Legendary British Organist Graham Bond & Guitarist Chris Spedding Guest on Several Tracks. Brown Co-Wrote Several Hit with Jack Bruce for the 60's Supergroup Cream Including 'White Room', 'I Feel Free', 'Sunhine of Your Love' and Many More.

Bridge: A Royal Night of Variety; The Pageant of London; etc.

Average customer rating:

Bridge: A Royal Night of Variety; The Pageant of London; etc.

Manufacturer: Chandos
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

Marches | Miscellaneous | Styles | Music

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Bridge: Suite; Valse Intermezzo; Two Entr'actes; etc.
Bridge: Isabella, Enter Spring, Mid of the Night, Vol. 1
Frank Bridge: Orchestral Works, Vol. 3
Dance Rhapsody / Sea / Dance Poem / Norse Legend
Frank Bridge: Orchestral Works, Vol. 4

ASIN: B0009F66P4
Release Date: 2005-06-21

Tracks:

Blow Out, You Bugles, H 132
Adoration, H 57
Where She Lies Asleep, H 114
Love Went A-Riding, H 115
Thy Hand In Mine, H 124
Berceuse, H 9
Mantle Of Blue, H 131
Day After Day, H 164i
Speak To Me, My Love!, H 164ii
Berceuse, H 8
Chant D'Esperance, H 18ii
Serenade, H 23
Tempo Di Marcia Ma Maestoso
I. Introduction. Moderato
II. Pavane. Moderato
III. La Romanesca. Allegretto
Allegro Marziale
A Royal Night Of Variety, H 184

Average customer rating:

Very different

Sorrows of Sophia
Elijah Mantle
Manufacturer: Phantom Sound & Visi
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

General | Jazz | Styles | Music
ASIN: B000006YGG
Release Date: 2000-11-21

Tracks:

Medusa
Tellus Matter
Hermaphroditus
Salom
Narcissus
Our Lady of the Flowers
Animus Anima

Album Description

Reissue of long out-of-print fourth album from one-man-band, Gordon Sharpe (This Mortal Coil), originally released in 1995. Includes a cover of Ewan MacColl's 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face'. Standard jewel case.

Customer Reviews:

Very different.......2005-09-26

This is not for the everyday listening. If you buy it, you won't have the guts to listen to it more than once or twice in a year...
Very dark and far from humanity, scarse poetic dazzling, very "dry" and not a musical masterpiece.
It's value resides mainly in it's experimental trend and in the fact that it is now a rarity (I exchanged my copy many years ago and feel kind of sorry for that, although I had no intention on listening to it very often...).

Purcell: The Mantle of Orpheus - songs by Purcell, Blow, Eccles, Weldon - Anthony Rooley and The Consort of Musicke

Average customer rating:

Late Purcell songs and those of his contemporaries
Very Entertaining Songs from Purcell and Co.

Purcell: The Mantle of Orpheus - songs by Purcell, Blow, Eccles, Weldon - Anthony Rooley and The Consort of Musicke

Manufacturer: Musica Oscura
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Customer Reviews:

Late Purcell songs and those of his contemporaries.......2006-02-21

This is a collection of late Purcell songs as well as songs of his contemporaries and immediate successors. It was put together in 1994 for the 1995 300th commemoration of Purcell's too young death by the Consort of Musicke and led by Anthony Rooley. The singers are wonderful: Emma Kirkby, Evelyn Tubb, Mary Nichols, Jospeh Cornwell, Andrew King, Simon Grant, and David Thomas.

However, don't expect your "normal" art singing style. The performances here are much more music house dramatic than parlor singing. The most extreme example of this is the last track where the song "Hey, Joe" is set by John Eccles and is wonderfully and humorously acted as much as sung by Andrew King and Simon Grant. Or track 11 sung by David Thomas. It is a text from Don Quixote set by Purcell and is a very dramatic setting of the words. Thomas sings it with great expressiveness and color.

The vocal production is more, well, what? Casual? It isn't Verdi, Schubert, Mozart, or even Handel. It is something before that, and as I said before, something along the lines of a music house, but somewhat more well formed than vaudeville or even Broadway.

Well, just listen to it and you will know what I mean. I found it a bit startling to hear solo voices in this style at first, but then it won me over.

This disk is still in print on the Amazon UK site.

Very Entertaining Songs from Purcell and Co........2005-12-30

'The Mantle of Orpheus' by The Consort of Musicke, lead by Anthony Rooley and starring soprano Emma Kirkby does songs by Henry Purcell and his contemporaries.

This is great entertainment, but it offers some clue to why we spend so much time listening to German Lieder and French chansoms rather than English songs. These have a tendency to lean just a bit toward the saccherine. At least if the lyrics are in German, I can enjoy the Shubert or Shumann music without being annoyed by the syrupy lyrics.

Pretty good overall, but not the very best 'early music'.

Average customer rating:

Haydn: The Seasons

Manufacturer: EMI Classics
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Symphonies | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Classical | Styles | Music

General | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

Oratorios | Opera & Vocal | Styles | Music

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ASIN: B0002XV2ZW
Release Date: 2005-02-15

Tracks:

Overture
Recitative: Oh See Where Cruel Winter Flies
Chorus: Come, Gentle Spring!
Recitative: From Aries Rolls At Last The Bounteous Sun
Air: Now Fairly Runs The Farmer's Boy
Recitative: The Countryman Has His Work Achieved
Trio And Chorus: Be Now GRacious, Smiling Heaven!
Recitative: Now Heard Are All Our Prayers
Trio And Chorus: Oh HOw Lovely Gleams The Outlook
Chorus And Trio: Ageless! Powerful! Bounteous God!
Recitative: IN Dove-Grey Mantle Drawing Near
Air: The LIvely Swain Is Gath'ring Now His Happy Flocks
Recitative: The Rosy Morn Breaks Forth
Trio And Chorus: He's Mounting Up, The Sun
Recitative: Now All Are Astir
Recitative: The Midday Sun Is Burning Now
Cavatina: Opress'd Succumbs All Nature Now
Recitative: Oh Welcome Now, You Shadier Grove
Air: So Reviving To The Senses
Recitative: Oh See! Now Rising In The Sultry Air
Chorus: Hark! The Tempest Drawing Night!
Trio And Chorus: The Gloomy Clouds Now Part Aside

Tracks:

Overture
Recitative: All That Through Her Blossom Fair Spring
Trio And Chorus: So Nature Gives Reward To Zeal
Recitative: Now See! To Hazel Bushes There The Youngsters
Duet: You Beauties Of The Town
Recitative: Now See, On New-Stripp'd Harvest Field
Air: There Look Across The Open Fields
Recitative: Here Beaters, Closing In , Put Up The Hares
Chorus: Hark! The Clamorous Noise That Through The Wood
Recitative: On All The Vines Are Glist'ning
Chorus: Cheer Now! The Wine Is Here
Introduction
Recitative: Now Sinks The Pale Declining Year
Cavatina: Light And Life Are Both Enfeebled
Recitative: Allfetter'd Lies The Open Lake
Air: Here Stands The Wand'rer Now
Recitative: At His Approach Rings In His Ear
Song And Chorus: Purring, Whirring, Purring
Recitative: The Flax Has Now Been Spun
Song And Chorus: A Maid Who Kept Her Honour Fair
Recitative: From Barren East Now Thrust Far Keener Icy Blasts
Air: Before Thee Here, Deluded Man
Recitative: Remains, Alone, And is Our Guide
Trio And Double Chorus: Then Breaks The Glorious Day At Last

Average customer rating:

it's not great
more great stuff from world serpent!
Incredible...

Angels of Perversity
Elijah's Mantle
Manufacturer: World
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music

Indie Rock | Indie & Lo-Fi | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
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Remedies in Heresies
Poets and Visionaries By

ASIN: B000006YGF
Release Date: 1993-10-25

Tracks:

la Gloire de l'Homme (Prologue)
Benedictus
Misere de Profundis
Es la Perdicion
Paradis Iac
Sanctus
Quem Di Dilicunt, Pt. 1
Quem Di Dilicunt, Pt. 2
la Gloire de l'Homme (Epilogue)

Customer Reviews:

it's not great.......2000-05-12

I find this album primarily oppressive, with the occasionally injection of unintended humor. "Es la Perdicion" is the track I play for my friends when I want to demonstrate just how awful this genre can be. "Es la Perdicion," like much of the rest of the album, is a heavy programed drum beat topped with growly vocals and the occasional synth-string flair.

I do not mean to say that this cd is un-interesting, or that Elijah's Mantle isn't a good project. (I find "Sorows of Sophia" to be pretty impressive, actually.)

In the end, I'd say this cd is some of the worst work of either Ellis or Perry. Pick it up for novelty's sake, but for the love of god, don't pay thirty dollars for it!

more great stuff from world serpent!.......1999-12-06

Mark ST. John Ellis is taking Elijah's mantle farther and more extreme each time out. Brenden Perry may have influenced their first album quite a bit; but it has evolved to classical realms never before seen in the gothic genre. My parents like this *shock and amazement* Latin/French and english all swirled together into neo-folk-ritualistic. I just can't explain how great this band is. go buy it...at any cost!

Incredible..........1999-07-17

Very Dark and Hammering into unfathomable areas of the psyche in ways that seem quite wonderful ?!!! Ha!

Brendan Perry from Dead Can Dance adds his inimitable touch of glory, producing a very unusual and pensive album that might rub you up the wrong way if you're not really into such things....

The Intro theme is exquisitely brooding and menacing!!!!! Get it.

Remedies in Heresies
Average customer rating:

haunting sometimes frightening landscape

Dark, minimalist, liturgical rock

Remedies in Heresies
Elijah's Mantle
Manufacturer: World
ProductGroup: Music
Binding: Audio CD

General | Alternative Rock | Styles | Music
General | Rock | Styles | Music
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Angels of Perversity

ASIN: B00000JO2D
Release Date: 1997-04-15

Tracks:

Lamentations in Praise
Gnosis
Laudate Dominum
Sorrowful Shores of Acheron
Pater Agnus Dei
Philosophy With a Hammer
Pater Agnes Dei [Vocal Version]

Customer Reviews:

haunting sometimes frightening landscape.......2002-03-05

this album is one of my favorites, a piece that sounds rings with catholic religious rituals taken to a place where the air around is filled with dark matter. Seriously though, this is one of thoes pieces that places the listener in another place. With the aid of some good headphones and some free time, this cd will undoubtably make you feel that you are in some kind of demented religious cult (based on the sound of the music alone). The only thing the cd suffers from is towards the end it gets weaker and a few of the ending tracks drain on. Either way, if you want a truely unique experience, this is something you want to add to your collection.

Dark, minimalist, liturgical rock.......2001-04-25

This is one of the creepier albums I've ever heard. Imagine if Dead Can Dance took the liturgical music of the Catholic Church (i.e. the ritual music of masses and other celbrations) as their source of inspiration rather than folk/world music-- and then imagine that they chose to interpret it in a manner that was especially dark and miminalist. The lyrics are chanted (yes, chanted) in a variety of languages (including Latin), and seem to represent some quite sombre subject matter, which is appropriate given the music. This would be good music to play on Halloween-- or to scare people into believing you're performing a black mass or something. It's very well done too, but the album suffers a bit from a lack of variety.