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Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain



9.1 | 1640 votes |
Release date: 8 August 2006
Style: Neofolk, Atmospheric black metal

Owners:

1675 have it
152 want it
4 trade it


01. Limbs
02. Falling Snow
03. This White Mountain On Which You Will Die
04. Fire Above, Ice Below
05. Not Unlike The Waves
06. Our Fortress Is Burning... I
07. Our Fortress Is Burning... II - Bloodbirds
08. Our Fortress Is Burning... III - The Grain
09. Scars Of The Shattered Sky (Our Fortress Has Burned To The Ground) [Double LP Vinyl 1000 Copies Limited Edition bonus]

Top 20 albums of 2006: 1
Top 200 albums of all time: 13
Featured in "Getting Into: Agalloch"

Line-up
John Haughm - guitars, vocals
Don Anderson - guitars, piano, vocals
Chris Greene - drums
Jason William Walton - bass

Guest musicians
Ronn Chick - piano, ebow

Staff review by
Dream Taster
Rating:
8.9
In today's world of overplayed musical styles and boring sameness, a few bands stand out as innovators. Agalloch from Portland, Oregon is one of those bands. With their unique blend of Doom, Gothic and elements of Death metal, those musicians managed to break through the US scene with the highly-acclaimed album The Mantle back in 2002. The band witnessed the arrival of Chris Greene taking over drumming duties for John Haughm (who remains very busy with guitars and vocals) while the rest of the lineup is still rounded up by Jason William Walton (bass) and Don Anderson (guitars).

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published 20.06.2006 | Comments (46)

Guest review by
strade
Rating:
8.0
Agalloch's Ashes Against The Grain. Never have I found another release I love so much yet feel so unsatisfied by. There's so much here, yet it feels as if so much is missing. It's so spot on, but I just don't find it a flawless or even exemplary demonstration of the genre in question. I'd call it the perfect musical embodiment of a love/hate relationship. With that said, however, I must admit that I feel a far greater abundance of the former than the latter.

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published 11.03.2012 | Comments (26)

Guest review by
Gothic Metalhead
Rating:
10
The god of man is a failure indeed.

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published 06.07.2021 | Comments (3)

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Comments

Comments: 62   Visited by: 2985 users
19.12.2010 - 11:31
Rating: 9
mz
Its one of the best metal albums of all and the first album of agalloch that I heard and I really like our fortress is...(II)
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Giving my ears a rest from music.
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04.02.2011 - 06:26
Timmeh
Dudeman
Aaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuurrrrrrrroooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaa swims in the ether....
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01.04.2011 - 22:40
Rating: 10
The Voyager
The Table
Written by Timmeh on 04.02.2011 at 06:26

Aaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuurrrrrrrroooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaa swims in the ether....

This. The greatest moment from the album in my opinion, and one of the greatest moments in music, period.
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09.08.2011 - 00:51
Rating: 9
Cyroth
Awesome from Limbs to the closing moments on the bonus track, Scars of the shattered sky
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17.08.2011 - 21:15
BeastOfMetal456
Account deleted
Written by The Voyager on 01.04.2011 at 22:40

Written by Timmeh on 04.02.2011 at 06:26

Aaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuurrrrrrrroooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaa swims in the ether....

This. The greatest moment from the album in my opinion, and one of the greatest moments in music, period.

Definitely. Spine-Chilling stuff.
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03.12.2011 - 07:07
Rating: 10
Melkor
Best fucking album ever!!!!
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28.03.2012 - 02:21
Rating: 7
@gent_-_orange
This album is quite good but its Agalloch's worst by far IMO, Certain songs go on for longer then they should and their is a real lack of atmosphere on this record compared to their previous and subsequent albums, Its still good but its their worst.
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28.03.2012 - 06:36
Rating: 6
Unhealer
Eclecticist
Written by @gent_-_orange on 28.03.2012 at 02:21

This album is quite good but its Agalloch's worst by far IMO, Certain songs go on for longer then they should and their is a real lack of atmosphere on this record compared to their previous and subsequent albums, Its still good but its their worst.

I thought the same, but today I gave another spin to Pale Folklore and now I'm not so sure which one I prefer.
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14.10.2012 - 22:01
Rating: 9
Erik M.
It's their best album. The only downside is its last track (Part III: The Grain), which I don't really dislike, but I don't like it a lot either. The Mantle is great, but I'm not a fan of instrumental songs to be honest. Pale Folklore is great, but it's just badly produced. Marrow of the Spirit is very good as well, but I don't like it nearly as much as the others.
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12.11.2012 - 21:12
Rating: 9
CobiWan1993
Secundum Filium
This is a great album. I don't think it's as good as Pale Folklore or The Mantle, but I do like it more than Marrow of the Spirit (which was still very good).
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Ordinary men hate solitude. But the Master makes use of it, embracing his aloneness, realizing he is one with the whole universe (Lao Tzu).
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07.12.2012 - 21:34
Rating: 10
Starchild
Just watching snow falling while listening to this masterpiece. It's awesome experiance
It's so nice to see this album in 12th place in 'top 200 of all time', so well deserved. Definitely one of the best albums i've ever heard!
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25.12.2012 - 08:02
Lit.
Account deleted
I prefer this to The Mantle. Beautifully done.
I wish Scars of the Shattered Sky wasn't just available on vinyl. It's pretty sweet.
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05.06.2013 - 23:13
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Well this is weeker then 1 and 2 album, seems band are more insiprated from folk, accustic, less from metal, so I did like it its still metal, its still this band but its not so powerful like previusly full lenght albums
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I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens.

Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"

I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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16.11.2013 - 07:00
Rating: 10
salah mustain
Awesome
their best album
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29.11.2013 - 21:44
no one
Account deleted
Better be good as i have just ordered the vinyl, haven't heard it before just assumed it would be good because i liked the mantle,pale folklore and Marrow of the Spirit so much.
I like what was said in the first post "In today's world of overplayed musical styles and boring sameness, a few bands stand out as innovators. Agalloch from Portland, Oregon is one of those bands.".........so true so true
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08.12.2013 - 18:52
Rating: 10
LeKiwi
High Fist Prog
Beautiful music this.
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03.01.2014 - 18:47
Neroese
Account deleted
Amazing.
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07.01.2014 - 13:08
Rating: 10
Just wow...
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25.01.2014 - 07:13
Paw.Mnggaran
Account deleted
Heidrun bleeds the golden nectarrrrrrrr
For the rising sun and the mooooooon.
The midnight wolves who watch over the dawwwwnnnnnnnn!!!!,
The golden dawnnnnn~~~.
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03.02.2014 - 23:13
robpal
Proglord
Top 15 of all-time? Seriously?
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04.02.2014 - 00:04
Rating: 9
Risto
Wandering Midget
Written by robpal on 03.02.2014 at 23:13

Top 15 of all-time? Seriously?

The Mantle used to be in top 10. These two are modern classics of metal.
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04.02.2014 - 08:14
Rating: 9
mz
Written by robpal on 03.02.2014 at 23:13

Top 15 of all-time? Seriously?

care to say why it's odd?
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Giving my ears a rest from music.
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06.02.2014 - 23:17
telephonebear
Account deleted
Written by Timmeh on 04.02.2011 at 06:26

Aaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuurrrrrrrroooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaa swims in the ether....

SOLSTAFIR! love that song
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03.03.2014 - 16:57
Gawain
Account deleted
I still can't decide which album I love more, this or The Mantle.. I just adore these albums. Worthy to be in the top 20 of all time In my opinion. 10/10 a masterpiece of music not just metal.
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25.06.2014 - 08:27
Rating: 9
MelancholiaC
Overall a very good album, nothing to complain about, but after 10 spins or so I'm having trouble why people would go so far as calling it a "modern classic" - seems a bit of a pedestal to me.

Don't get me wrong. As this doom/atmospheric style is actually right up my alley, I really enjoy the album. However, at the same time I'm not hearing anything that ground-breaking or breath-taking (besides Our Fortress Is Burning... II - Bloodbirds).

Also, the second song Falling Snow still annoys the hell out of me - that beyond bland opening riff - I thought to myself "what the hell is this a pop punk song?"
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25.06.2014 - 11:58
Rating: 9
Troy Killjoy
perfunctionist
Staff
Agalloch... pop punk... all of my what.
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"Wise men talk because they have something to say; fools because they have to say something."
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21.08.2014 - 17:39
telephonebear
Account deleted
I'd love to give this album a ten, after all the first seven songs (1,2 and 4 especially) are perfect. But I can't because no matter how much I try I cannot see the point in The Grain. Even if some tracks here are worth an 11 or 12, the fact the I regularly skip a track lowers it to a 9.
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05.10.2014 - 22:54
telephonebear
Account deleted
This album has a song by song here: http://metalstorm.net/pub/interview.php?interview_id=386

Why no link?
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18.10.2014 - 18:41
SongsOfDarkness
Account deleted
What is special about this album? I've heard a few seconds of the first song, and the first thing I noticed was that lacks an atmosphere like that of The Mantle, something weird coming from Agalloch.
No offense intended.
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18.10.2014 - 20:21
Rating: 10
God Alone
Written by [user id=150501] on 18.10.2014 at 18:41

What is special about this album? I've heard a few seconds of the first song, and the first thing I noticed was that lacks an atmosphere like that of The Mantle, something weird coming from Agalloch.
No offense intended.

That's because it's not supposed to be The Mantle part 2.
The Mantle is quiet and intimate, whereas this one is harder, majestic and often devastating. Just listen to Bloodbirds. Also, people usually think the last song is the worst but for me it's the perfect way to close such a masterpiece: everything eventually crumbles and turns to ashes, wrapped in thick fog and smoke.
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