The Silence of Forgotten Landscapes
| The Silence of Forgotten Landscapes | ||||
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| Video by Agalloch | ||||
| Released | 2009 | |||
| Recorded | Biebob in Vosselaar, Belgium | |||
| Genre | Folk metal, doom metal | |||
| Label | Shiver Records | |||
| Director | Juan Mosqueda and John Haughm | |||
| Agalloch chronology | ||||
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The Silence of Forgotten Landscapes is a 2009 live DVD by American metal band Agalloch. It features a 2008 performance by the band at the Biebob venue in Vosselaar, Belgium. It was co-directed by Juan Mosqueda and Agalloch frontman John Haughm.
The idea to film a performance for a DVD release was sprung on the band very suddenly during their 2008 European tour. Haughm was ill with pneumonia during the tour, and on the evening of the Belgian performance he was feeling particularly unwell. He described his state as like "a bad hangover complete with hallucinations" and that he was singing "with a throat that felt like it was on fire." The band contemplated canceling the performance but Haughm decided instead to "take it like a man and do it," and during the performance he hid his coughing behind his hair.
Following the Vosselaar performance, Haughm traveled to Germany and visited the Externsteine with some friends and a group of traveling flutists and percussionists they had met earlier. They built a fire and stayed late into the evening, with the flutists and percussionists playing their music while Haughm relaxed. Haughm described it as "one of the most amazing spiritual experiences I have ever had," and the following day his illness was gone. This experience was what inspired Haughm to write the song "The Watcher's Monolith," which was included on their fourth album, Marrow of the Spirit.
Aside from Haughm's illness, the band had problems with the amps that were on the stage and issues with bleed-through in the microphones, which was corrected in post-production. The decision was made to release the film in black and white because the color footage was not usable; the transfers were presented to the band in a format that was incompatible with the editor's software, though Haughm said that he felt the "1930s silent film" aesthetic worked well.
Haughm also felt that the Belgian show was ill-suited for the DVD release because they did not have their characteristic stage props (deer skulls, tree stumps etc.), as they were not able to bring those items on the plane to Europe. The band had also requested fog machines for the stage but did not get them.
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