February 2020 Feature Release - The Infinite Edition

It's now February which of course means that we'll be nominating a brand new monthly feature release for each clan. This essentially means that we're asking you to rate, review & discuss our chosen features for no other reason than because we enjoy the process & banter. Ben & I will certainly be contributing & we look forward to hearing your thoughts too.     

This month's feature release for The Infinite is 2006's classic third album from Portland-based post/folk/black metallers Agalloch entitled "Ashes Against The Grain". This album incorporates elements of many subgenres & sees the band tearing loose from the confines of the folk/black metal classifications of their earlier works with a more expansive post-metal undertaking. We're keen to hear what you think of it.

Wow Daniel, you really hit us with a behemoth this month!

I wrote a review just now, so I will be brief. Ashes Against the Grain is one of the crowning achievements in all of metal. It, alongside The Mantel, served as my introduction to more extreme tendencies in heavy metal and showed me how beautiful it can sound, instead of chugging guitar riffs, pummeling blast beats, and gurgled vocals. I can listen to this album from top to bottom at any time and never skip a moment. And going back and listening to it again for this, I only find the album to be even better than I remember. There are a lot of folk/post-metal bands trying to replicate this sound and failing to this day. I think that represents the true essence of lightning in a bottle.

10/10

While I quite like "Ashes Against The Grain", I've never quite understood the high praise that Agalloch seems to inevitably draw. This was their best album in my opinion however it's never quite connected with me strongly enough to become a regular listen. To be honest I've always found some of their non-metal & non-album material to contain the band's best work (see 2004's "The Grey" E.P. & 2008's "The White" E.P.).

P.S. Nice review Saxy.

I've turned into a big fan of Agalloch after initially disliking Marrow of the Spirit, but then revisiting it as well as finally checking out The Mantle. Ashes Against The Grain is certainly a better Metal album than either of those, with better quality riffs and a much more evil feel than the more natural sound of The Mantle. This album vs The Mantle is always going to be the big talking point and, to be honest, I think I enjoy The Mantle a tad more, although both of them get a 4.5/5 as of right now. While Ashes may have more Metal and heft to it, I think it loses a lot of the atmosphere that really gripped me for whatever reason on The Mantle. Reviews of both of these albums are definitely a goal of mine and I simply haven't listened to them both enough to really go in depth yet.