Agalloch

Marrow of the Spirit 2010

C4 Cold Dense Prog Post Black
added by avestin
cover-art
Review by PowerWyrm published
C Prog Black

"I sense that a lot of people will love this album and a lot will hate it. So is it a good or a bad album? Probably neither...

If you like extreme metal, you will love this album. The clean vocals are gone, replaced by shrieks, gurgles and (sometimes) whispers. A new drummer has been added to the band, giving a much heavier sound. The black metal elements are back in force, acoustic guitars are almost gone, as well as the melodic parts.

The big problem here is the overall sound. Most of the songs here sound like unfinished versions of actual songs, and worse than that, unfinished versions of old songs. It's really like listening to their first demo...

There are still good moments, but they are diluted in the background noise, distorted guitars, harsh vocals, blastbeats..."

Tracks

1.

"Short intro with an atonal cello. It's really missing the emotions you would expect from such a song."

2.

"Plain raw black/death metal with shrieks and blastbeats. A clear step back from the two previous albums."

3.

"This sounds like elements from Pale Folklore, The Mantle and Ashes Against The Grain blended together in an indigest soup. The vocals, especially, are ugly on this track."

4.

"This could be a copy-paste demo of "In the Shadow of your Pale Companion". Reminds me a lot of old Katatonia stuff... especially their first demo back in 1992."

5.

"Recently I was listening to Dimmu Borgir's album "Stormblast"... the original version... This song really reminds me of some of the songs on that album. Mid-paced black metal with occasional blastbeats..."

6.
- To Drown 10:27

"The title says it all... a drowning sound, very reminiscent to the closing track of the previous album, in the background of what could have been a very melancholic song."

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