ASHES AGAINST THE GRAIN

The snowy and gloomy landscapes, the darkness, and the constant tension sum up what is Ashes Against The Grain, Agalloch's third work. The topics are developed extensively, without rush or urgency, time does not seem to be relevant. Powerful and distorted guitars to the maximum, are set against absolutely crystalline moments, tinged by disturbing atmospheres that seem to presage some fatal outcome.

The album begins with the superb Limbs, almost 10 minutes that go through half times, imposing guitars, two small acoustic interludes, keyboard included, and the guttural voice of John Haughm, to complete a chilling atmosphere. Falling Snow maintains the character of Limbs, but with greater dynamics. After the concise and nature-themed This White Mountain on Which You Will Die, comes a fantastic combination of folk and doom with the extremely melancholic and painful Fire Above, Ice Below, and this time Haughm's clean voice that gives it another tone is, in my opinion, one of the best songs on the album. It shares that honor with the dizzying and dramatic Not Unlike The Waves, another lengthy display of the consistent musical wall that the Agallochs flawlessly build.

The work concludes with the three-part suite Our Fortress Is Burning, which lowers the beats and languishes in ambient developments interrupted only in part II by a couple of verses sung with the guts, and a haunted part III and its haunting and endless suspense, which ends up fading without specifying what it seemed to offer. The concept of the entire album however remains intact.

Ashes Against The Grain is a very good musical work, with a remarkable production and without a doubt recommended for those who enjoy the heavier genres of progressive rock.