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Agalloch: Ashes against the grain

10/10/11 || Smalley

While I’ve always admired Agalloch’s ability to keep naturally evolving their sound, experimenting with various influences from black, folk, post, and doom metal (and so on), I have cooled a bit to their first few albums recently; “Pale folklore”, while extremely passionate, is still rough and a bit amateur-ish in certain aspects, and the calmer, folkier “The mantle” lacks a bit for me in terms of metal punch. However, for 2006’s “Ashes against the grain”, the band not only took a welcome turn away from that mellow folkiness into a heavier, post metal influenced style, but also executed this new sound with an unprecedented level of sophistication and emotional maturity, resulting in a hell of a relistenable album, and one of my very favorites from the 00’s.

We kick things off with “Limbs”, beginning with two high-pitched, drawn-out lead guitar lines, before the heavy, doom-y riffing comes in, achieving a paradoxical synergy with the leads. The song stays like that for a good while, but there’s enough emotion in the playing to keep you interested, which only ramps up once things quiet down and the acoustic guitar makes its first appearance, before getting heavy again, with Haughm coming in with those signaturely angst-y lyrics of his. Overall, “Limbs” is a slow builder, but that’s part of the band’s new post-y sound, which they do a damn good job of pulling off, and anyway, the part just after the 7 minute mark, where the electric guitar cuts off and is replaced by one lone, mournful acoustic, is almost fucken worth the cost of the album alone.

“Falling snow” then ramps up the energy dramatically, giving off an almost happy vibe, the way it’s driven by a powerful, winding, kind of Gothenbug-y lead guitar, which qualifies as one of the very best riffs I’ve heard in metal (not kidding). The constant, wonderful energy sustained here for 9+ minutes, and ethereal, soaring clean vocals from Haughm later on rounds out “Falling snow” as one hell of an enjoyable, endlessly-relistenable cut, and while you won’t listen to the ambient, foreboding “This white mountain on which you will die” as much, “mountain” is still one of those rare interludes that manages to leave an impression, with its quietly fatalistic vibe.

“Fire above, ice below” then cools us down by greatly easing back the tempo and adding in the layers, with the lead guitars, bass, acoustics, pounding percussion, even bell samples all calmly playing together, and crafting an intimate, serene atmosphere without the song sounding overstuffed. Haughm’s depressed tone and poetic lyrics here, plus the beautiful, post metal-y guitar interactions (especially during the outro) ensure “Fire“s status as one of the most powerfully-emotional songs I’ve heard, without ever becoming melodramatic or seeming insincere for one microsecond.

“Not unlike the waves” then comes as being pretty accessible by Agalloch standards, but in a good way, with its catchy, driving riffing, gorgeous acoustic interludes, great clean vocals, and excellent integration of lead guitar lines, which all make it yet another unique, intelligent, fulfilling entry on “Ashes”. The album then enters its endgame with the final trilogy of songs, beginning with “Our Fortress Is Burning… I”, which starts off with slow, quiet atmospherics courtesy of a howling wind sample and echoing piano, building up into clean, prog rock-y guitar noodling (albeit restrained noodling).

That one leads seamlessly into “Bloodbirds”, which takes on a heavier, more dramatic, much more climatic tone, with Haughm wailing in despair as the riffs come crashing in behind him. It’d be the perfect way to end the album if it actually was the end, as unfortunately, “The grain” then goes on for another 6+ minutes with aimless, irritating ambient noise that adds nothing to “Ashes” as far as I’m concerned. I understand what Agalloch was trying to accomplish here, and I appreciate the attempt at experimentation, but “The grain” still doesn’t fucken work here.

But besides that misstep, “Ashes against the grain” is still a brilliant, ambitious, and impeccably-produced blending of a shitload of different influences, sounds, and moods into one incredible, cohesive whole. The vocal stylings have more subtlety, the lyrics aren’t as literal, and the entire affair has a more genuine, grown-up classiness to it than the band’s early stuff. While I also dig the hell out of last year’s “Marrow of the spirit”, “Ashes” still remains the band’s finest hour to date, one that they’ll have to work their fucken asses off if they ever wish to top it. If it wasn’t for a certain other album from 2001, this would be my favorite metal record of the past decade, so I know my opinion has to count for something here, right? Right…?? Of course.

9,5

Information
Released: 2006
Label: The End
Website: www.agalloch.org
Band
John Haughm: vocals, guitars, acoustic guitars, drums
Don Anderson: guitars, acoustic guitars
Jason William Walton: bass
Chris Greene: drums

Tracklist
01. Limbs
02. Falling Snow
03. This White Mountain On Which You Will Die
04. Fire Above, Ice Below
05. Not Unlike The Waves
06. Our Fortress Is Burning… I
07. Our Fortress Is Burning… II – Bloodbirds
08. Our Fortress Is Burning… III – The Grain

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