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Agalloch: Marrow of the spirit
06/01/11 || Love Lagerkvist
The first time I heard Agalloch, I just defaulted to believing that they came from somewhere in the Scandinavias. How else could they get the inspiration necessary to produce their amazing audial recreation of a real Nordic fimbulwinter? But oh was I wrong. These guys come from fucken Oregon of all places. Granted, according to this picture I found on Wikipedia they do have a badass mountain in their city, but that still doesn’t cover the required dose of Norse socialism required. Or maybe they live in one of those isolated communist societies… Bah, whatever, let’s get on with the actual review of Agalloch latest opus “Marrow of the spirit”.
The album starts off with “They escaped the weight of darkness”, an instrumental piece that transports the listener to a calm river during a foggy winter morning. After a short while the cello playing Neck appears by the riverbank, playing a tune that can be described as melancholy in it’s purest form. While scared of this mythical beast at first, the more you listen to it the more appealing it gets. Slow but steady you get closer and closer to the scene until…
BAM! An assault of drums enter as “Into the painted grey” starts, gasping you by your feet and grading you into the cold dark depths of the water. You struggle against the flow, but you realize there is no use. Instead you let the current lead you to a seemingly snow covered field and gives you a majestic view of a final showdown between an old Viking lord and his arc nemesis, filled with monologues and intrigues. Musically this is blacker than Agalloch have been in a long long time, but that’s not to say that we in any way are in hyperblast territory here. Oh no. In fact, “Into the painted grey” is probably one of the most varied tracks I’ve ever heard, constantly morphing in a way that feels incredibly natural.
After this cumtastic piece we are served with a dose of the slightly more acoustic “The watcher’s monolith”. Sections here are a bit longer and more sombre than in “Painted”, with beautiful layered melodies and some killer riffing. We also get some more of Haughm’s awesome cleans, which is always a good thing. Everything ends with a great piano part not too different from “Moonlight sonata”. Returning to the river analogy, the flow has now stopped showing actual places and changed direction into a more feeling based territory, something that’s evidenced by the forth track “Black lake nidstång”.
Agalloch might be known for making emotional songs, but I’m not kidding when I’m saying that this is possibility one of the saddest things I’ve ever had the pleasure to hear. “Black lake nidstång” will tear you down, up and even left with it’s gut wrenching instrumentation and heartbreaking vocals. Heck, there is even a Moog in here and if that doesn’t sell you, I don’t know what will. Track of the year? Very possibly. Best Agalloch song ever? Definitely, and that’s saying something.
With “Ghost of the midwinter fires” however, the mood changes drastically from absolute depression to joy. Saddened joy, of course, but joy nevertheless. Being probably the most “post-” composition on the album, it contains some amazing instrumental guitar lead parts with an ass kicking black metal part squeezed in between.
We are now 55 minutes in to the album, but in river-land night has already fallen. The neck is now finished with his tour and has no more use for you. You are now “To drown” in his majestic waters of sadness. As the song slowly creeps to it’s climax, so does your life. You see your life flashing before your eyes, everything from your birth to the first time you touched a boys testicles. As the water slowly fills your lungs, you think to yourself one last though of… blubb blubb blubb
- Information
- Released: 2010
- Label: Profound Lore Records
- Website: www.agalloch.org
- Band
- John Haughm: vocals, guitars
- Don Anderson: guitars, piano
- Jason William Walton: bass
- Aesop Dekker: drums
- Tracklist
- 01. They escaped the weight of darkness
- 02. Into the painted grey
- 03. The watcher’s monolith
- 04. Black lake nidstång
- 05. Ghosts of the midwinter fires
- 06. To drown
