Send "Agalloch " Ringtones to your Cell 
| Pitchfork |
 Whether you self-identify as a metal-attuned hipster or a hipster-hating metalhead, and whether you scan Pitchfork's reviews or prowl the message boards of the American Nihilist Underground Society, you've likely considered the shifting sound of black metal during the last decade. In recent years, the bands that have earned the most attention and acclaim have generally used what began as Scandinavian misfit rock to springboard into something epic. Wolves in the Throne Room's atmospheric bombast, then, aligns with Alcest's haunted dreamscapes. Deathspell Omega's mean psychedelic crunch links with the scorched expanses of Horseback and Locrian. Sure, plenty of recalcitrant bands-- Watain, Akitsa, the intractable Immortal-- adhere to decades-old, fast-blasting strictures. But from the keys and strings Emperor used to the sense of grandiosity Mayhem promulgated, orchestral elements and widescreen scope have consistently been part of knotty ol' black metal. On their fourth album, Portland, Ore., quartet Agalloch peerlessly unify both camps. As atmospheric as it is aggressive, as reliant upon old-school bona fides as on imaginative flourishes, Marrow of the Spirit confirms Agalloch's place at the frontier of American metal.Marrow of the Spirit begins, as have each of Agalloch's three previous LPs, with a reflective instrumental. A forlorn cello moans over field recordings of a brisk stream and chattering birds, mixed so that each element feeds into the others. Together, they offer an image of melancholy, energy, and beauty that serves as a prelude in the most proper sense. Agalloch deals in light and dark here, moving beyond simple damnation and apocalypse to consider escape and renewal, too. Through a series of sketches and scenes, frontman John Haughm offers desolation and collapse-- "I slumber in clouds of ice/ These are my hands... so it is done," he groans during the opener. The next hour is a tug of war between retreat and rebirth. "There are gods in the wake of the very flame," he sings at the album's other end, placing his hope in a hopeless void. The music here mirrors that message, a trait that requires dynamic, diverse, and compelling arrangements. Introduction excepted, Marrow of the Spirit's five tracks range from 10 to 18 minutes in length, and, more often than not, one marathon simply segues into another. Though the album breaks well past the hour mark, Agalloch couple economy and pacing with imagination and ideas in a way that should make most black metal bands green with envy. The 12-minute "Into the Painted Grey", for instance, maneuvers with enough agility that its runtime feels appropriate. It transitions from ascendant guitar solos to relentless, howling stampedes, twisting the two again and again into blissful terror. A barely audible 12-string acoustic guitar laces much of the track, adding ballast to the blast. That guitar serves as the bridge into "The Watcher's Monolith", itself a perfect distillation of the breadth that's made Agalloch matter for the last decade. Spider-webbing from folk-rock smolder to mid-tempo thrash, from hair-metal guitar workouts to dirge-like chants, "The Watcher's Monolith" plays like an unpredictable, seamless mixtape of Agalloch's strengths....full text |
| Angrymetalguy |
| Agalloch is one of the rare bands whose music can provoke complex emotional reactions and truly move me every time I listen. From the bleak coldness of Pale Folklore to the creepily morose musings on The Mantle and the tense, uneasy nihilism of Ashes Against the Grain, their music overflows with emotion and feeling. Their odd and groundbreaking neo-folk, black metal, post-rock fusion has been a winning concoction time and again. From their small but fierecely dedicated fan base, there has been an almost palpable anticipation for new material from these Oregonian wood gnomes and finally, they deliver Marrow of the Spirit. It goes without saying that expectations are ridiculously high based on the masterworks that preceded, but can they continue to operate at such a high level? I want to say yes unconditionally but the truth is more like a yes with minor qualifications. Marrow begins with the darkly beautiful instrumental “They Escaped the Weight of Darkness” featuring guest cellist Jackie Perez Gratz of Grayceon (fans of dark atmospheric music need to check them out ASAP). The somber, haunting cello work accompanied by the sound of a babbling brook is followed quite jarringly by ”Into the Painted Grey” which features the heaviest and ugliest black metal blasting Agalloch has ever done. Over the twelve plus minutes that follow, Agalloch explores a lot of familiar styles and ideas, from muted, moody introspection to black metal hammering, always maintaining a high level of quality (check out the great riff that occurs at 6:00). This continues with “The Watcher’s Monolith” which sounds like a lost track from The Mantle,with acoustic guitar offset by rock/metal lead-work and the excellent black metal rasps of John Haughm. It was at this point on Marrow that it began to dawn on me despite the excellence of the music, there’s also an undeniable feeling of familiarity and sameness here compared to their prior works and that’s a feeling I never experienced before as an Agalloch fan....full text |
| Metalunderground |
| If there is anything that truly sends the metal underground into a ridiculous frenzy, it is the mere mention of a new album from Portland, Oregon’s Agalloch. As soon as news broke regarding the quartet’s fourth studio album, “Marrow of the Spirit,” discussion boards and metal forums lit up with endless speculation. To say “Marrow of the Spirit” is a highly anticipated release would be quite the understatement. Agalloch releases its albums in four year increments, with the previous “Ashes Against the Grain” having seen the light of day in 2006. Expectations are high, and potentially a little too high, as the six songs featured here don’t quite reach the peak of the hype mountain that this fourth outing has been placed upon. “Marrow of the Spirit” begins with a slow and haunting instrumental. To be fair, “They Escaped the Weight of Darkness” isn’t even an Agalloch song. The song was composed by Jackie Perez-Gratz of Grayceon and performed exclusively by her on cello, while birds chirp in the background to the echo of running water. The song is beautiful, incredibly eerie, and a very fitting way to kick off such an album. Unfortunately once the long and draining four year wait comes to a close with the instrumental’s final seconds, the album begins a slow and steady hike back down the mountain of hype, for which it had been steadily climbing for so long. “Into The Painted Grey” begins with a section that includes the most blatant of a black metal influence as humanly possible. Pummeling blast beats are rolled out in full force by Agalloch’s newest acquisition in drummer Aesop Dekker, alongside a wall of guitar fuzz; and guess what, it works and fits well into the grand scheme of things. But the blast beats do not last for long as the band’s melancholic take on dark metal soon pushes its way through the black metal noise. “Into The Painted Grey,” as a whole, makes a few transitions back and forth between the two stylistic elements, creating a rather decent listen. Current die-hard fans of the band will surely enjoy it, but those looking for something new from Portland’s premier underground metal act might be disappointed. The trend of repeating oneself is practiced again with “The Watcher’s Monolith.” While it is another well written song, it's a mirror image of the band’s work on “The Mantle.” Acoustic guitar passages often find themselves fading in and out of a barren metal landscape, while the vocals are raspy one minute and clean another. Sound familiar? Both “Into the Painted Grey” and “The Watcher’s Monolith” are good songs and are above average in quality compared to what other bands are doing in the current metal scene, but when a band has a four year gap between records, it’s not unfair to expect something more than just a re-hash of past successes. Maybe I’m wrong and Agalloch has simply found “its sound” on this record. “Black Lake Nidstang” is Agalloch’s darkest composition to date, although by no means is it the band’s best. For the majority of its bulky and overweight playing time, the song remains in the same realm; one governed by slow progression and quiet whispering with no “real” vocals making a presence. Some classic Agalloch elements are thrown in at intervals, but for the most part this song is an attempt at doom metal that misses the mark in terms of imagination. An interesting interlude is thrown in near the end to save itself from spilling over into the self-indulgent category, just barely. The musical interlude features, what seems to be, a xylophone solo/lead. But sadly, I get the impression it’s just a nifty, rad and "epic" setting on some dude’s keyboard....full text |
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