Fuck, this was a blow. I guess this calls for a farewell discog jam for the weekend, but I'm holding out hope that this is temporary.

wow unreal. probably for the best, The Mantle and Pale Folklore will always be undeniable classics

sucks

Byegalloch

damn this sucks

RIP

shiiiiiii

blows but i havent been able to get into anything since ashes

sucks balls. but their output was on a decline anyways. i like to think of it as preserving their legacy

Ashes hits so hard. I'm jamming Fire Above, Ice Below now and that buildup with the strings into the heavy section is mind-blowing.

Dude what? This is really out of the blue. I mean they just opened those pre-orders for their first three albums on vinyl. All I can say is damn. What a legacy. The mantle is one of the greatest albums of all time.

Heartbroken dude, they're undoubtedly my favorite band. I'm sure it was for the best, but I'm still hoping that this is just a temporary thing

oh well

"Ashes hits so hard. I'm jamming Fire Above, Ice Below now and that buildup with the strings into the heavy section is mind-blowing."

truth

maybe Haughm's solo shit will be good

this is still kind of a bummer tho : /

The solo snippet he posted right before the break-up post sounded pretty cool, kinda like the droney sections of Agalloch's early releases.

I will never understand people who say that The Mantle is only amazing for the first 20 minutes. You Were But A Ghost In My Arms is one of their best.

fuck

yay

this sucks, but maybe they've been on a but if decline. If he continues, maybe some new members can bring something to the table that Agalloch has been missing.

This is some seriously shitty news.

"American metal band Agalloch posted on Facebook that they have parted ways"

"Haughm the only remaining member."

Lmao this makes it sound like he parted ways with himself.

Marrow of the Spirit was a jam
Hope the members find new inspiration in different projects

damn

More like he parted ways with the rest of the band. Idk its a weird situation but they stated that they were splitting up, so that's how I've worded things.

Noooooooo!

sad, but their latest album was their weakest imo

Suuuuuuucks

Boring band -___________________- but this is sad news

what u mean boring band

wanna fight?!

i'm down to throw down

Gutted

Holy shit, that's awful news..

really looking forward to haughm's solo stuff

if they split up they've got more overall chance of finding an interesting harmonic idea in the wild

Good riddance, they sucked anyways

:[

thank god

finally

Should have seen this coming given their decline in quality over the past two records plus Haughm's solo stuff surfacing. It was for the best, but god damn does it still suck.

I listened to that drone-type track Haughm did solo and it was pretty bad.

Man this is terrible news . But to be fair the last two albums were a drop in quality since ashes so maybe it's for the best at the moment. The Mantle will always be one of my favourite albums of all time.

This news is bittersweet. While this eliminates the slim chance of them ever releasing another mantle or ashes level album, it also eliminates the possibility of them sliding even further into mediocrity.

Friday the 13th just had to reel it's ugly head in the most unexpected way...

Really let down by this. Band has been one of my faves (probably my fave tbh) for quite some time

Marrow Of The Spirit is my favorite from them - Black Lake Nidstang is one of my favorite songs of all time. Good luck to the band members.

Dang. Worst music related news I've heard all year. I look forward to hearing some of John's solo work, I'm sure he still has a few tricks up his sleeve.

one of the most influential and greatest bands of the last two decades is gone now, thank you for all your wonderful music

I liked The Mantle a lot. Too bad.

Probably for the best. RIP, they were an amazing band.

they were on their way down

rip to a legendary band

Nah, band was consistently amazing until the bitter end

They weren't on their way down at all. Serpent is a really great album despite what most people around here seem to think. This blows hard.

Agreed, wasn't as much into Serpent as other Agalloch but I hear no decline. Shit news.

I don't want to live on this planet anymore.

I'll always be in the shadow of our pale companions...

First 3 albums were great, and The Mantle is a classic.

Pity to see a legendary band go but they were unable to match the quality of their earlier work.

First 3 are classics, last 2 are just a notch below.

this sucks.

Gonna jam this discog again.

boring band

They're no Born of Osiris.

agreed ahrd

Haughm basically confirmed that over the past few years his inspiration and motivation was going downhill fast. Serpent is a prime example of that.

So this is the end of Sputnik right?

Agalloch are certainly in my top 5 bands of all time, but I can't say that this hurts or anything.
I've loved everything that they've done, but if the band stayed together against their own desire to do so and only for the sake of releasing material, that material would have most likely been uninspired.

so sad. many tears

RIP

I dont... Fuck man...

this really hurts

My thoughts exactly Crysis.

so long!

Damn!

Didn't see this coming

what a bummer

woah crysis is an emeritus

Haughm basically confirmed that over the past few years his inspiration and motivation was going downhill fast. Serpent is a prime example of that.

No way dude, it was a masterpiece.

The opening song for that album is their best song ever written and one of the greatest doom songs as well.

urgh

Last album was awful anyways so it's probably for the best

Wiz yes that song is top 3 Agalloch for me too.

。。。and the suicide rate on sputnikmusic goes up

oh fuck. i hope John continues with a new line up. i really wouldnt care that much if the drummer and bassist were replaced.

"It was difficult, well thought-out, and something that had been culminating over the past couple of years. I simply could not continue any further with the band as it was. I had to make a change as my motivation and inspiration had started to completely deteriorate."

well that would explain why their last record was boring.

"The band has simply been reduced back to its founding member for the first time in 20 years"

Don Anderson was present on every Agalloch release from the start, so that seems a bit egocentrical of Mr. Haughm. And yeah, no once cares about the rest of the band.

They should continue without Haughm. He is too egocentric. Just because he lacks motivation doesn't mean the rest of the band does. If he didn't feel like he needed to take control of everything and give the rest of the band more room to breathe, they could have avoided this.

"Founding member"... bullshit, Don was on every release.

Here's hoping we hear more from Mr. Anderson, Dekker and Walton in the future. John can continue his meandering drone stuff if he wants.

"They should continue without Haughm"

lol no. He is the main force behind the band. Without him there is no Agalloch, just a super average drummer and bassist, and a guitarist who probably contributed, but like i said, John is the main force behind Agalloch. I wouldnt care that much if they were replaced, in fact a new line up would probably reinvigorate the band.

^Agreed.

Agreed [2].

just a super average drummer and bassist

Ummm do you know who was drumming on their last two albums, right?

Meg White? Lars Ulrich? Tre?

good riddance, terrible band

a shitty drummer who was worse than the old one?

good riddance, terrible band

ok I don't dig this band in the absolute slightest but terrible is DEFINITELY not a word to describe em

"Ummm do you know who was drumming on their last two albums, right?"

dont care, his performances for Agalloch werent anything special.

"they're no dance gavin dance, that's for sure"

yes dgd is actually fun to listen to

Brandon wtf

yea every adult male just loves to revisit prepubescence on a nightly basis

i would rather visit that than some faux-intellectual snorefest

also, sorry ben :[

spirit. spirit. c'mon man.

both of the posts on their official Facebook page about their status, including John's post saying that he's the sole member and hadn't decided what to do next, have been deleted. and now the members section of their profile reads "Disbanded. 1996 - 2016." so I guess it's official.

NOOOOOOOKK

Seriously though, i dont think ive ever been this saddened by a break up before. I wouldve liked to see them live one more time. At least they went out with class instead of releasing album after album after all inspiration was gone.

Honestly thought they'd be around forever.

To think I was considering editing the title to say that Haughm made Agalloch his own thing with the rest of the bandmembers leaving.

I'm on mobile and Facebook won't let me copy paste, but the end of the Biography section in the About link has a brief paragraph about Haughm permanently putting the band to rest after careful consideration.

What band was it that talked shit about each other on the Internet when they split? At least they didn't do that.

"In May 2016, founding member John Haughm parted ways with Don, Aesop and Jason and, after careful consideration, permanently put the band to rest."

well fuck.

Jamming lots of Alcest and getting hyped for their new record is helping me so far, but sooner or later this will have to sink in for me, and it'll be pretty miserable to face I expect.

Agalloch is one of those life-changing bands for a lot of people, and the takeaway is that at least they existed at all and left us hours of amazing music to appreciate, which will never go away even if the band is no more.

Cynic. It was Cynic.

Might have to get on Falls of Rauros now in a vain attempt to fill the hole that Agalloch left. Y U DO DIS TO ME, AGGY.

Oak Pantheon's doing a good job of filling that void for me, they released a new album a couple days ago and it rules

Yeah man the new Oak Pantheon album is very good! A lot of people in this thread will probably enjoy it. It's like a blend of Agalloch and Woods of Desolation.

Checked Oak Pantheon a few years back and was disappointed by them. Sounded like a cheap copy of Agalloch that didn't have that something special about them. Might check the new album and see if they've improved though

lol Oak Pantheon...that is the most Agalloch title for anything ever

"yes dgd is actually fun to listen to "

this is something I would say how tf is spirit a contrib

Saying DGD is better because they're "more fun" than Agalloch is similar to saying Meet the Spartans is better because it's "more fun" than Whiplash or something

LMAO

Updated.

"In May 2016, founding member John Haughmone take? parted ways with Don, Aesop and Jason and permanently put the band to rest."

SOB!!!! What is that now?! Just when I was getting over the fact that the band was never going to be the same again and was getting excited about a reborn Agalloch, they throw that at me! How many stabs in the heart can

Yeah that kind of came out of nowhere, i thought it would be a long time before we heard anything. John himself even said he probably wouldnt know if agalloch was done or not for awhile.

Could be he just got sick of people asking questions and figured this would shut them up for good

I hope that is true

Scream is probably right. I'd think that it's been a crazy month with all the band members leaving, him being the focus of panicking fans after those announcements, and deciding what to do with Agalloch while trying to get out his solo stuff and pursue other interests at the same time. He probably just wants to move on at this point.

I think what Scream meant is that he just said that to keep the fans from asking him any more questions by just providing something somewhat definite. Nothing can stop him from making an announcement of a comeback when he has made up his mind on what he wants to do with the band. If he as well decides to actually end the band then oh well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cgO2wXnozUk
6:00 - 7:40 John's explanation of recording Pale Folklore is priceless.

i guess the band's existence was just a clay urn on the mantle

It's official, the band is done. Really upset now

What a shame, but maybe for the better.

I'll look forward to Haughm's solo work.

"I'll look forward to Haughm's solo work."

So far, from what I've heard, he seems to be focused on guitar-drone type stuff so don't go in expecting anything at all like Agalloch

I'm aware of that.

Man how in the piss did I miss this article. WTF

Sad to see them go, probably top 5 bands that had the biggest impact on me. I don't think something like Agalloch can go on for very long without running out of steam, those first 3 albums were just too good.

Yeah 20 years is a decent lifespan for a band to be honest, atleast (like Isis) they called it quits while on a relatively high note instead of devolving into uninspired, sub par material like so many once great bands have done.

The makers of Prophecy Fest are thrilled and proud to announce that US metal legends AGALLOCH have agreed to perform their much longed for reunion show in the original line-up exclusively in the Cave of Balve this year.

AGALLOCH comment: "After nearly eight years since the band broke up, Agalloch are reforming with the intent of playing limited shows", guitarist Don Anderson writes on behalf of the trio. "The line-up remains the original three: vocalist and guitarist John Haughm, guitarist Don Anderson, and bassist Jason Walton. We will be aided by Hunter Ginn (Canvas Solaris, Sculptured, Radical Research Podcast) on drums. We will re-emerge, perhaps fittingly, from the Balver Höhle, which is a cave used by humans since the stone age, at this year’s Prophecy Fest. We've been fans of Prophecy Productions’ roster of bands since their inception and are pleased to make this fest our debut after being gone for so long."

^ wonder how decent the chance is that this could lead to new music.

Cool. Yeah, if that happened I wouldn't expect much, but I'd be curious regardless.