ASHES AGAINST THE GRAIN

A great album from Agalloch. I think the main problem people have with this album is the lack of variety - the "folk" element has nearly been lost and it just seems to be post metal. Personally, I don't think it's a problem - it's easily dynamic enough to remain progressive. And it's great.

1. Limbs (9:51) - A fitting intro, this one starts slowly and builds to a climax towards the end. Not an awful lot of vocals, this one is mostly about the droning guitars and epic riffs. Before finale it drops in intensity and slows down the pace.

2. Falling Snow (9:38) - My favourite death metal song. It opens with incredible power and sustains its awesomeness throughout. The vocals are brilliant, all the guitar riffs are great. It is devoid of solos and isn't terribly dynamic, but the ending more than makes up for that.

3. This White Mountain on Which You Will Die (1:39) - An effective ambient interlude. There's a weird noise which fires across for most of it but the underlying ambient noise is very calming. It sets the stage quite nicely for...

4. Fire Above, Ice Below (10:29) - This is far mode dynamic, almost folk - if they had used acoustic guitars. The slow intro is nice and ominous and it also explodes quite quickly into a solo. Thinds calm down again around the 5-6 minute mark and then a typical finale is used to end.

When i say typical, I refer to how Falling Snow and Limbs ended. They all have very very similar endings, unlike the previous albums, which is a pity - a driving riff which intensifies. Sure, this works, but it's not very imaginative.

5. Not Unlike the Waves (9:16) - This track is weaker than the first few. It's not abysmal but it does have some vocals which I do not enjoy. That said, the riffs are on par with Falling Snow - it just doesn't have enough range.

6 --> 9. Our Fortress Is Burning - This 'epic' track feels far less like an epic than it should - mainly because it's split up into individual parts, but also because the last part can be almost totally ignored.

The "Introduction" is an instrumental piece. It's quite slow, has some nice riffs in it, and is varied. I can't really complain about this one. "Bloodbirds" is brilliant - it opens with an extended solo which becomes better and better, and builds to a brilliant vocal climax to finish the album. So far, so good, huh? Well, the last 7 minutes of the album is just noise, much like the "Odal (Nothing Remix)". It doesn't make much sense to me, but perhaps I'll love it one day.

So, the standouts are Falling Snow, Fire Above and Bloodbirds. I yearn to see them live. Do another album, guys! Or that DVD you promised!