Review Summary: Our fortress is burning against the grain of the shattered sky
Do you like black metal? What about post rock? Neo folk? Ambient? Sludge metal? If you answered yes to one or more of those questions and you haven't listened to
Ashes Against the Grain, I am honestly contemplating whether or not you're masochistic. Why, you may ask? Well, the answer is pretty simple. Once you've listened to this record, you'll begin to wonder how you were ever able to listen to any of the sub-genres that are encompassed here and acquire even the slightest hint of satisfaction. Knowing that this piece of music exists, I can almost guarantee you that it'll take a long time before you can go back to listening to anything else and hold it in as high regard as you previously did.
With
Ashes Against the Grain, Agalloch seamlessly fuse a plethora of musical styles into a one-hour behemoth of an album. Everything from post rock crescendos to Neurosis-esque sludge metal interludes can be found here. On this album, the quartet demonstrate to us their almost inhuman songwriting capabilities. Song structures flow perfectly, allowing for every single section of each song to fit together in a way that I never even thought possible. Never before have I heard music that has moved me so much on an instrumental level. The hauntingly beautiful clean guitar tones -- a great example would be at the beginning of
Fire Above, Ice Below -- engross the listener in such a thick, immersive winter atmosphere that they will most likely forget that they aren't actually stranded in the middle of a desolate forest during a furious snow storm. The distorted guitar riffs which borrow from more traditional metal, not unlike the ones in
Not Unlike the Waves (You laughed, admit it,) accent said clean sections to an absolutely astounding degree.
This album doesn't only harbor top-notch musicianship. The lyrical theme here is possibly one of the most emotional and meaningful that I have ever had the pleasure of taking in both aurally and visually. It may take the listener a while to actually understand the immensely deep message that this album conveys. Once they begin to really interpret and analyze it though, it will become blatantly apparent just how artistically and poetically gifted John Haughm and the rest of Agalloch really is. How the group was able to write lyrics that fit so remarkably well with the music, I haven't a clue. All I can say is that
Ashes Against the Grain will take you on an emotional journey unlike any that you've ever experienced through music. You probably weren't aware that enough emotion and beauty can be packed into a 60-minute time span to give you a legitimate musical epiphany. I'm aware that there's no such thing as a perfect album. In my opinion though, this is the closest to pure and utter perfection that you'll ever get the chance to hear. So please, if you haven't already, do your ears a favor and pick it up
Ashes Against the Grain immediately.
