THE MANTLE

agalloch comes through with a masterpiece in THE MANTLE, creating a cold wintry landscape of folk style acoustic guitars, occasional outbursts of metal, with growled vocals at times, and haunting clean voice others. The standout track here is " In the Shadow of Our Pale Companion." Clocking in at over 10 minutes, this song showcases all agalloch have to offer. beautiful acoustic sections, hard rock crescendos, all encapsulated in a dark atmosphere. think about walking alone in a forest while its snowing...Other key tracks include Odal and A Desolation Song, which is acoustic with clean vocals, and features an accordion of all things. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED FOLK/METAL with an incredible atmosphere, that sweeps you away to a different place. i would give this album somewhere around 4.3 stars. not quite a masterpiece , although for the genre its in, it could very well be considered one.