Composer Reacts to Agalloch - Black Lake Niðstång (REACTION & ANALYSIS)

Bryan reacts to and talks about his thoughts on Black Lake Niðstång
ORIGINAL VIDEO // • Black Lake Niðstång
VOTE ON AND SUGGEST UPCOMING THEMES AND SONGS // / criticalreactions
LINKTREE // linktr.ee/criticalreactions
Contains links for Special Selection submissions, the CR Patreon, access to the CR Discord Server, the CR Twitter profile, and more.
0:00 Intro
1:02 Reaction
18:48 Analysis - Comparing to Other Agalloch
22:42 The Album Art Connection
25:24 Analysis - Creating that Bleak Soundscape
34:37 Analysis - Chronological Exploration
49:11 Analysis - Lyrical Themes
59:11 Outro

[@ryanm.7147]

All of us Agalloch fanboys are in the comments and I am here for it

[@no_Ray_bang]

Fact

[@flashforpeople]

this ^

[@8o86]

yes

[@kamtank]

Guilty

[@zejzild]

Will always love Agalloch. Special place in my heart and lots of memories. :)

[@ashleymarsden8676]

This is such a voyage. Bleak, lamenting, depressive but equally uplifting, bright and joyous. Masterfully crafted. Really good analysis as always.

[@jonathanhenderson9422]

Every time we return to Agalloch I remember how amazing they were. When they first came out I really thought we'd gotten the black metal equivalent of Opeth, and had they stayed together I really think they would've achieved the same stature in the metal world. This was from their penultimate album and is really the centerpiece of that album, and it's pretty apparent why. Just such an epic, haunting track that journeys through so many moods. Superb song, and great choice for the week's theme. Definitely one of those "feel" songs, though. For me it's a great example of a song that just pulls me in from the intro so I'm willing to go along for the ride anywhere they go from there. As for your interpretation, I definitely get the loneliness. This is something I get from a lot of black metal in general, and I think is why so many BM artists depict stuff like forests and wilderness on their album covers. There's something about the vastness of nature and how small humans feel against that seems to permeate the aesthetic of a lot of BM bands, but Agalloch are better at it than most IMO.

[@BeatMyMeatSkeetSkeet]

LOVE that you're getting this much into agalloch. I know I said last vid you have to do the mantle but if you aren't able to do a reaction, just listen in your spare time. What a masterpiece. But this song/album is incredible as well.

[@europason2293]

One of my favorite albums of all time, any genre.

[@slayerem]

I've never thought I'll see Agalloch reactions... This is my favorite song of theirs also. The mantle and Marrow of the spirit are amazing albums.

[@CriticalReactions]

I have at least 2 reactions and a reaction to the entire Grains Against the Ashes album (get ready for a 2 hour video for that one 😅)

[@VermillionGates]

This song has some great doom metal vibes in my opinion. Not something I can listen to at any time, but in my opinion a top notch experience emotionally, great once in a while.

[@stevebarber8501]

Those crying vocals go straight to the heart.

[@hcmofo13]

Every single time.

[@mantiz8x]

Powerful

[@annodomini1991]

Fantastic song by Agalloch.

[@robertperner7196]

Take note of the second verse, the one from the Nidstang's perspective, where it's talking about the gods who created the whole world. Even they are "watching from below", implying they too are mortal (as Pagans believed gods to be; "And you are BUT gods") while the Nidstang's curse is everlasting. (The first verse says, "its face scarred by the ages" - you're supposed to use a *fresh* horse's head for the Nidstang, sacrificing the horse specifically for this ritual, so it must have been sitting there for a long time now.) The third verse may or may not be from the perspective of the person who placed the Nidstang in the first place. When the lyrics ask about the cranes and the stags, I'm not sure if this is supposed to be set before or after the casting of the curse. If before, then the person placed the Nidstang to protect these woods from outsiders, poachers and the like. However, the first verse (from the POV of the dead) makes it seem like the curse is killing off animal life as well as human life, so maybe the caster is shocked to find out that the curse is more powerful than anticipated and has killed off the local fauna over the years.

[@zenggah]

Always great to see some Agalloch, in continuation of that theme i can recommend checking out The Great Old Ones (personally only familiar with their first two albums), they make music straight from a lovecraftian hellscape.

[@MaaZeus]

One of my favourite bands. The first three albums are magnificent. The fourth album is also good but its kinda lacking. It does not have the unsettling wall of sound of the first three albums, it does not sound as big. Anyway, I would like to see him analysing either Antarctica or Shadow Over Innsmouth songs.

[@STAR0SS]

Check out Les morts vont vite by Shub-Niggurath for serious lovecraftian music.

[@LordSummerIsle73]

Such a good band

[@user-id6yg6wm4q]

I was excited to see this after watching the AATG video today. This whole album (MOTS) was recorded on vintage analog equipment, which adds a nice touch.

[@user-te1bu4li8q]

I love your community. You get plenty of great recommendations

[@CriticalReactions]

There certainly isn't a lack of interesting music being recommended that get little coverage elsewhere.

[@n4rf645]

This song definitely pulled me down into the lake when it came out. I sat there for days figuring out what the different guitars are playing during the heavily layered section and trying to recreate it with my loop pedal. Now you're only missing The Mantle. How about it? Doesn't it bug you that you haven't listened to it yet? ;)

[@AgentBuggy47]

Woah, this is a pleasant surprise. I listened to your Ashes Against the Grain video on my way to and from work today, and then I get this in my youtube recommendations.

[@vindigo1873]

Man, love you reaction and analysis. Especially on Agalloch since i'm a big fan of them. You should definitely listen their debut "Pale folklore". It's more straightforward and "metallish" but those melodies...All their albums top-notch for me but this one is still my favorite.

[@ashleymarsden8676]

I'd really like you to take a listen at Sacramentum " Far Away from the Sun "some time. Classic and criminally under rated1990s melodic black metal.

[@kynareth3605]

the riff that starts somewhere around 3 mins in in 'blood shall be spilled' on that album is one of the best ever BM riffs in my opinion

[@cpfantastic5576]

I was listening to Falling Snow and then suddenly i saw this video on my feed :)) Very special band. Since you're a melodic fan, If you want melodic black metal listen to Dissection - Where Dead Angels Lie. They pioneered this subgenre. Also I don't think Burzum - Dunkelheit needs introduction, It's a must.

[@robertperner7196]

I second Dissection and Burzum, plus I want to add Summoning (excluding the first album for being too conventional). Summoning's sound quality may be pretty crap (deliberately), but it fits, because they mostly sing about Tolkien's Middle-earth lore. And as with literature, Summoning's music asks for your imagination to fill in the blanks in order to appreciate the grand scale.

[@nerpus]

İts really interesting. These two songs are my favourite songs all time. Dunkelheit is marvelous too.

[@patrickbertlein4626]

@@nerpus Agreeing with everything said here in all these comments, except I would disagree about Summoning's production, would add Empyrium and Falkenbach to the list, and Reinkaos from Dissection, especially as a composer, would be interesting.

[@Rain_power]

I hope you do Les Voyages de L'ame by Alcest from Les Voyages de L'ame. This song feels very otherworldly to me.

[@user-mn7gm9jm9j]

EXCELENTE

[@AnasKhallouk]

Alcest - Ecailles de Lune (Full album Analysis)

[@funkdaddy5641]

Nice to fins people with similar taste, especially a rare song like Black lake nidstang

[@Silver_Something]

“Never had a song made me feel so small”. I would say that feeling, for me, belongs to the song Mladic by GYBE.

[@asmrmetalman1061]

Anytime someone says metal is just noise I recommend them agalloch, usually changes their mind

[@STAR0SS]

Strong dungeon synths vibes at 13:00, then... Steve Reich.

[@patrickbertlein4626]

First few Agalloch albums and early Opeth up until Deliverance are the greatest metal albums ever, in my opinion...after listening to metal for close to 3 decades now being a music reviewer and owning thousands of albums, but just my opinion...

[@hcmofo13]

Transcendental band. I could tell throughout the song Agalloch began doing to you what they've done to me starting long ago.

[@joshuacole1482]

Such a journey.🤘

[@no_Ray_bang]

Well you're officially lodged into my YT algorithm (no complaints here) Might I recommend Bell Witch's album Mirror Reaper?

[@CriticalReactions]

I've seen the name quite a bit recently. I have a feeling I'll end up doing that as an album review eventually on the channel. 😅

[@Mixail]

@@CriticalReactions Mirror Reaper is just on another level for me. Have tried to get into that album for quite a few times until it eventually "clicked". Hope you get to it soon :) P.S. Thanks for a very thorough and spot-on Agalloch analyzis. Made me appreciate this song (already a favorite of mine) even more. You are criminally underrated.

[@janeg6759]

Was feeling more Deathcore tonight and this kinda soothed me. I liked the atmosphere, maybe the change up my mind needed. I also liked the recent full album review. I might just have to check them out more. And, I liked the second half and the first on this first listen. I don't listen critically like you, but enjoy hearing the technical analysis and it doesn't change my mind about how I feel about the song. 🙂

[@europason2293]

If you wanna listen to Agalloch, I highly recommend listening to their discography in chronological order. I discovered them about two years ago and it was one of the best musical discoveries I’ve made in recent memory.

[@janeg6759]

@@europason2293 thanks. I will do that. I tend to like doing discographies in chronological order. I have quite a list to get through, but there is something I like about this band for sure.

[@joshuacole1482]

such a good song … and the payoff at the end is epic AF.

[@ambassadortourettes753]

I was transported to a real life scale of the board game candy land whereas I had to fight Klingon Smurfs 🤔 Pretty that was the intended effect... 👌

[@CriticalReactions]

This might be one of the best comments I've read 😂