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Live Review: Agalloch with guests, July 13th 2012 – Rickshaw Theatre, Vancouver B.C.

(CLICK TO ENLARGE | Photos – Scott Alexander)

Live Review: Agalloch w/ Taurus and Eight Bells
Friday, July 13th, 2012
The Rickshaw Theatre

A scorching and beautiful summer evening was cast with a sense of coldness when Portland’s Taurus, Eight Bells and the legendary Agalloch finally invaded Vancouver for a long-awaited night of something different.

Eight Bells, a mixture of avant-progressive and dark wave, opened the night. Full of technical guitar playing with plenty of reverb, delay and effects, guitar junkies will definitely appreciate the amount of solos and lack of repeated riffs. While the riffs sounded improvised but structurally well put together, the lack of vocals was a bit upsetting.

Next up, Taurus, a band composed of two females on guitar and drums: Stevie Floyd of sludge, doom band Dark Castle and Ashley Spungin previously of Purple Rhinestone Eagle Supergroup. Best part of the set was their extended intro of creepy audio-visual and noise, which created a dark and surreal atmosphere, almost like a dream. Unfortunately their set wasn’t as exciting as the intro, since drone is extremely hard to appreciate live, especially if it’s not something one is already interested in. With a high amount of drone and eerie ghostlike screeches of unidentified words, the crowd was left wondering what it was they just saw and whether they liked it or not.

While Agalloch has played Seattle numerous times, this is the first time they’ve played Vancouver and many Vancouver-based fans felt a sense of relief to finally get to experience their live performance. The excitement and anticipation for the long-awaited and admired headlining band filled the packed crowd and could easily be felt. Agalloch’s crisp, chilling and serene sound quickly soothed the audience; the first half of their set consisting mainly of their dark metal material and the last half, the atmospheric folk -mostly from The Mantle- that are they highly known for.

Most noteable songs included “You Were but a Ghost in My Arms”, “As Embers Dress The Sky”, “In The Shadow Of Our Pale Companion” and the amazing encore of Sol Invictus’ cover “Kneel To The Cross”. Despite relatively obscure opening acts, Agalloch’s spotless musical composition, coupled with John Haughm’s beautifully varied vocals and Haughm’s/Don Anderson’s precise yet effortlessly played guitars, left fans already anticipating the band’s return.

Agalloch.com

Soundcloud.com/taurus-4/01-demo

Eightbellsband.com

By: Ruthless

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