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Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain
| Message Board > Album Reviews > Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain |
| Akylore User Info... |  This album is very melancholic...no, not in the cheesy gothic/vampiric sense (that I admit I'm fair to,) but they really drag the sense of loss and decay of humankind upon the barren, natural landscape. It's coming and there's no mistake about it...that's the vibe I get from the first track "Limbs." For the first minute or so, the guitar sound might rub some people off as initially taking it as a Katatonia rip-off...it isn't. Give it a chance; this album will DIG itself into you. The second track "Falling Snow" gets into more of the classic 'up-tempo' feel that P.F. had with Agalloch's classic poetic imagery of the immense overwhelment of nature, eating up 'the character' of sorts in an odd sacrifice that leads up to third track, "This white mountain on which you (or he) will die," which is an odd, 'distant/cold/ambient' track, maybe it's used to illustrate the aftermath of the 'sacrifice,' I'm not sure... The fourth track "Fire Above, Ice Below," is a flat out mighty doom song. Not mighty in the flashy sense, because the guitar sound is somewhat passive but dammit, there's something about the combination of their simple drumming & guitar melodies at parts that makes it so bloody memorable. Many clean-vocals-a-plenty which are very lush in cadences (which I ALWAYS dig.) Track five, "Not unlike the waves," has a very "Doomy/Triumphant" kind of neo-folk feel...again, not in the "swing your wooden goblets of ale to and fro" sense, but the recurring theme of the overbearing power of nature is crashing down again, as their image of the aurora amongst the sky is crashing as violently as the seas. This tune has to be one of the clearest examples of how you do not have to have a crunchy death-metal guitar sound or even a raw black metal sound to be fucking grim. The trilogy "Our Fortress is Burning," "Bloodbirds," and "Ashes against the Grain" make up tracks 6, 7 and 8 respectively. Track 6 is somewhat of a slower acoustic instrumental that builds and sways, track 7 is not so different but a more consistent build up. The black metal snarling and the pain inherent in the climax of this track is very powerful though. What really made me turn my head was how much track 8 was of a noise outro. Not necessarily a coarse/abrasive noise, but just enough where I could interpret the imagery of the 'remnants' of the birds or the natural decay of elements descending upon the ground. I don't know, that's what I got from it. For those not so familiar with Agalloch I would highly suggest "Pale Folklore" as it's a bit easier to get into (seperate from the fact it's still my favorite album.) This is not the kind of shit to play at parties, this is truly the kind of album to listen to closely without interruption. They're really crafted a clever amalgamation of ambient rock, doom rock and traditional black metal, which is truly a citadel in their image (and mine ;) Grab this fucking album. - Fri, 8 Sep 2006 1:59am Edited: Fri, 8 Sep 2006 2:00am | ||
| tyler User Info... | ive had this album since early ass june and have listened to it once(or more) a day since.ITS SO FUCKING GOOOD in the top 5 of 2006 so far LISTEN TO THIS track 2....is soooo amazing..oregon metal owns my soul - Sat, 9 Sep 2006 11:47am | ||
| Lord Snot User Info... | One of my favourite releases of 2006, amazing band! I also have "Pale Folklore" and "The Mantle" and I think this one is slightly better than either of those. My only problem with them is that they always have 1-3 songs that really stand out and I have trouble getting into the rest of the CD. For this one my favourite songs are "Falling Snow" and "Not Unlike the Waves." - Wed, 10 Jan 2007 1:31pm | ||
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