Simone Appolloni's Album Reviews
Probably American band Agalloch will never be recognized as one of the best 00’s acts of all time (according to a branch of nostalgic listeners, none will ever), but ignoring the hype and media phenomenon they helped to establish around the time slowly, but steadily, would be ingenuous to say the least. The band was recognized in making a Black/Doom Metal hybrid (actually, more the latter) with Radiohead guitar effects and a sparse use of Folk instruments, but Ashes Against the Grain found them completing the metamorphosis into an authentic Psychedelic/Post Metal band. The echo in the recording is indicative of an accurate and thoughtful production, and the use of Drop C tuning permits a specific range of open-chord arpeggios not many had exploited in the past (neither Xasthur) while employing the same G-minor scalar melodies of In Flames, favoring them much more accessibility than other “Cascadian Black” bands like Wolves in the Throne Room, Skagos and Woods of Ypres.
Most of the album is instrumental, based over moderate-balladic rhythms with elementary, simple and emotional acute guitar lines with sustained arpeggios and occasional use of e-bow. From “Limbs” to “Not Unlike the Waves” it’s a series of Gothic/Doom songs with simple, driving rhythmic guitar progressions and emotional (rarely tremolo) lead guitar lines by John Haughm, something that’s definitely opposite to the nascent revival of cerebral Progressive/Rock Metal of the time favored by Dream Theater. Though “Not Unlike the Waves” is more renowned by the public, it’s the opening duo of “Limbs” and “Falling Snow” that’s the album’s highlight thanks to their more effective structural minimalism. The last three tracks are an entire suite titled “Our Fortress Is Burning”, which starts with sparse, acoustic guitar arpeggios and ends with electric guitar feedback favored by sustained pedals. The lyrics are scarce and some of the imagery evokes Suicidal/Depressive Black subjects (“These arms were meant to be lost / Hacked, severed and forgotten”, “Red birds escape from my wounds and return as falling snow / To sweep the landscape; a wind haunted, wings without bodies”).
The flatness of the arrangements, all relying over digital production and effects, proves that the bandmembers didn’t really had the instruments to make a masterpiece, and the material here, though very strong, isn’t exactly miraculous, but, once again, ignoring such an album, which literally re-launched a second Katatonia fanbase and inspired hundreds of bands from all the world to reconsider simplicity, would be not only ingenuous, but also unfair. Though they were no Forgotten Tomb and no Cradle of Filth, Agalloch were definitely a band with personality, and Ashes Against the Grain stands as their most consistent album ever. An ideal “Cascadian Black” introductory album.
Highlights: “Limbs”, “Falling Snow”, “Fire Above, Ice Below”.
Most of the album is instrumental, based over moderate-balladic rhythms with elementary, simple and emotional acute guitar lines with sustained arpeggios and occasional use of e-bow. From “Limbs” to “Not Unlike the Waves” it’s a series of Gothic/Doom songs with simple, driving rhythmic guitar progressions and emotional (rarely tremolo) lead guitar lines by John Haughm, something that’s definitely opposite to the nascent revival of cerebral Progressive/Rock Metal of the time favored by Dream Theater. Though “Not Unlike the Waves” is more renowned by the public, it’s the opening duo of “Limbs” and “Falling Snow” that’s the album’s highlight thanks to their more effective structural minimalism. The last three tracks are an entire suite titled “Our Fortress Is Burning”, which starts with sparse, acoustic guitar arpeggios and ends with electric guitar feedback favored by sustained pedals. The lyrics are scarce and some of the imagery evokes Suicidal/Depressive Black subjects (“These arms were meant to be lost / Hacked, severed and forgotten”, “Red birds escape from my wounds and return as falling snow / To sweep the landscape; a wind haunted, wings without bodies”).
The flatness of the arrangements, all relying over digital production and effects, proves that the bandmembers didn’t really had the instruments to make a masterpiece, and the material here, though very strong, isn’t exactly miraculous, but, once again, ignoring such an album, which literally re-launched a second Katatonia fanbase and inspired hundreds of bands from all the world to reconsider simplicity, would be not only ingenuous, but also unfair. Though they were no Forgotten Tomb and no Cradle of Filth, Agalloch were definitely a band with personality, and Ashes Against the Grain stands as their most consistent album ever. An ideal “Cascadian Black” introductory album.
Highlights: “Limbs”, “Falling Snow”, “Fire Above, Ice Below”.
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