At 12/1/10 12:16 PM, TheDaemonicPoet wrote:
Shit, I'm listening to Agalloch, Pale Folklore album... shit is intense and beautiful.
Along with Ulver, I think Agalloch made some of the greatest Black/Folk Metal ever. From Which Of This Oak EP is another great release when it comes to Atmospheric Black/Folk Metal. Pale Folklore and Ashes Against The Grain are still my favorite albums by Agalloch. And some of my favorite albums in general.
Talking about Agalloch. I've been going through their new album all day long. Listenned though the whole almost three times already. While I think the record is a great add to Agalloch's discography, I still have to ask why the production is so bad compared to the production of The Mantle and Ashes Against The Grain. In fact, every single album by Agalloch was perfectly mixed, even their first Demo and EP. On the EP From Which Of This Oak, the sound is kind of dirty, but it adds a great "Cabin in the forest" ambiance to the music. But Marrow Of The Spirit's production is just weird. Through my first listenning of the track Into The Painted Grey, I stopped it and started Falling Snow, from Ashes Against The Grain. While the riffs from the two songs are not comparable, the production on Falling Snow was still way better than it was on Into The Painted Grey.
Second problem, is a problem I never had with any other Agalloch album before, I think some parts are just too long or don't have a significant progression in it, so they tend to get boring. However, this is only a problem for the last two tracks on the album. The four first tracks still hold a lenght of 49 minutes on the record, so I'm not going to complain on this anymore. Because these tracks are very good. The riffs on these songs are pretty cool, and the build up on Black Lake Niðstång is just intense. During the seventh minute of this song, Haughm starts screaming like he never did before on any Agalloch record. While it may sound weird for the first few seconds, it adds so much emotion to the song, it grew on me pretty fast, and I must say that this part is one of my favorites on the album.
Talking about Black Lake Niðstång, I must complain about another thing about this record. The song lenght. There is only 6 tracks on the album for a 1 hour and 5 minutes record. Not that I mind listenning to long tracks. In fact, I think Agalloch's music is better appreciated when the listenned from the first second of the album to the last one. However, I could see people who would like to listen to a specific track. The song Black Lake Niðstång could easily be splitted in three different parts. And why not? That is exactly what they did for She Painted Fire Across The Skyline and Our Fortress Is Burning. Those are splitted in parts. Why not do the same thing for this album?
Agalloch and Profound Lore Records have presented Marrow Of The Spirit as the heaviest, darkest and most agressive record by Agalloch, so far. Well, it's true. It's the heaviest, the darkest and most agressive record by Agalloch. On some of the songs like Into The Painted Grey, the drums goes in an intense blast beat right from the start, with a lot of distortion, the guitars just go crazy in a black metal-ish riff and the vocals are just as agressive. Songs like Ghosts Of The Midwinter Fires will still bring you back to the the Good ol' Agalloch we all know. Very progressive songs. Smooth and melodic, than more agressive and darker. So their may not be as much memorable songs on this record as on Ashes Against The Grain or Pale Folklore, which are to me, perfect albums, but there is still enough of that magic only Agalloch can create on Marrow Of The Spirit, for me to like it.
Most important about this record is that it's different. This is the most important part about Agalloch's music. Being able to diversify their still so much has brought them tho have four completely different full-lenght albums in their discography. While this is not my favorite album by them, it is still a great add to Agalloch's discography.
At 12/1/10 02:16 PM, ZpLiNtEh wrote:
At 12/1/10 01:04 PM, D3NTATUS wrote:
black metal takes time to get into, you don't listen to black metal for the same reasons you listen to other music, necessarily.
Doesn't it matter what type of Black Metal you listen to though? I don't know much about it but I've seen the guys here discuss Depressive Black Metal and Symphonic Black Metal, and there's probably others.
Black Metal and SBM are two completely different genres to me. SBM shouldn't even have the word "Black" in the genre name.
SBM bands just do not play the same music that is played by other Black Metal bands. Listenning to both genres is the best I could suggest. You will understand the difference way easier if you go there by yourself.
