Also, I'm glad you're making videos again. I found you via your review of "The Bee" by Amorphis but stuck around because you have amazing taste in music and I appreciate your opinion.
@@thewinterland That really works as a ringtone! I might do the same haha! And thanks man, this comment made my day. A lot has changed since that video! Incidentally, I've just today started listening through Amorphis' discography with the intention of making a ranking eventually. They have A LOT of albums though, and surprisingly a lot I have never listened to! So may be a while yet!
I really have been enjoying this band over the past few years. My first exposure to the band was 'Marrow of the Spirit', and wow the album really deepened my appreciation for metal music. There are moments on that album that are just super raw like an open wound and other moments frenetic yet gorgeous. From there I found 'The Mantle' and 'Pale Folklore' at my local record store and without question 'The Mantle' is a masterpiece. I've listened to straight through and on random with my disc changer in my car and it always works. The music is seamless, incredibly potent, surprising at times, and truthfully sounds like nothing I've heard before. Of course what makes certain masterpieces great is the melody, and progressions. "The Mantle' has so many surprising progressions ridiculously beautiful guitar work. After that I picked up 'Pale Folklore' and at first was a little dissatisfied and felt like as you mentioned the band was all over the place. However, like any great artist the more you listen to it the more you understand it. I love 'Pale Folklore', especially because you can hear the innocence of a new band about to embark on something masterful. The melodies, progressions, surprises and guitar work are very special. And now I just recently picked up "Ashes against the grain'. So far I must say that I don't love it the way a lot of others do. I find it less raw, sincere and original as there other work. To be fair I'm only about 15 listens in so I need more time but for some reason it feels too polished and as I mentioned just less raw and original as there other work. Overall I am going to give it more time though. Now i need to check out Serpent and the sphere. I am looking forward to that. Thanks so much for the video I like how you justify how you feel about these albums. Very honest and well thought out.
I read somewhere that the band themselves thought that Ashes Against the Grain was too polished and that's why Marrow of the Spirit is so raw in comparison. I totally understand your views on the albums you've heard so far. I love the way you describe the rawness on Marrow of the Spirit like an open wound! I'd love to use this descriptor in the future. And I agree that Pale folklore has that innocence about, especially as it was a band about to produce 3 masterpieces simultaneously. Thanks for the comment and the very kind words. Glad you enjoyed the video!
You mentioned Unlike the waves being folky but opposite end of the spectrum from Korpiklaani. I feel that folk metal can be split this way between party cheese booze galore drinking folk metal diggy diggy hole types, and the serious stuff that is more nature derived and closer to traditional folk melodies. Ashes against the grain is definitely my favorite Agalloch album as well, probably not of all time, that goes to Moonsorrows Kivenkentaja. But definitely top ten. It's tied with Woods of Ypres best album The Pursuit of the sun and the allure of the earth.
I'd agree with your list but swap The Mantle and Marrow of the Spirit :) Also the screamed lyric in Not Unlike the Waves is 'Solstafir', which apparently is the Icelandic word for sunbeams! I was also at that Bloodstock performance and it was the one and only time I saw them too.
When I went into this, I expected The Mantle to beat Marrow of the Spirit, but my god, MotS is my new obsession. Ahh, interesting that he screams 'Solstafir'! I never would've guessed!
Great Ranking. Mine is the same as yours. It's right how you mentioned the acoustic guitars in metal in the 90s. I can recommend a German metal band called Empyrium. If you love agalloch I believe you like them too. They released a new album last week, called "Über den Sternen", in English "Above the stars".
I'm loving that acoustic guitars from the 90s sound right now! Empyrium sound really nice. Been checking out their latest album that you mentioned. Really good, but the male choir-like vocals took a bit of getting used to. They're a band I was unfamiliar with before, but since making this video, you're the 3rd person to mention them to me! Thanks!
great review! if i was to rank them it would be: 5. serpent and the sphere 4. ashes against the grain (definitely need to go back to this one!) 3. marrow of the spirit 2. pale folklore 1. the mantle
Something I was interested in about this review is you didn’t talk about the massive Post-Rock/Metal influence that Agalloch draws from. Try out albums like Neurosis - Through Silver in Blood & Times of Grace Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Lift Your Skinny Fist Like Antennas to Heaven Swans - Soundtracks for the Blind I remember reading them say Godspeed You! Black Emperor were one of the most influential bands for them and you can really tell on some of their longer instrumental songs that incorporate samples. Definitely dive into some more Post-Metal and Post-Rock if you haven’t because they are genres fulfilled with heavy, atmospheric, emotional and epic music. Some of the best albums come from those genres
Thank you, I didnt know this. I do like a lot of post metal but never listened to any of those that you mentioned and I didn't know Agalloch had cited bands like that as influences. Now that you mention it, it's pretty obvious! I like bands like ISIS, Cult of Luna, If These Trees Could Talk, God Is An Astronaut, Tides from Nebula etc. Its a great genre!
@@thegothicviking1388 That’s awesome. My favourite genres are Atmospheric Black Metal and Post-Rock, they really go great together. Great video by the way. My ranking is pretty much the same but I have The Mantle at number 2. Agalloch’s great, they really don’t fit into one genre. They’re like... Progressive Atmospheric Post-Black/Folk/Doom Metal or something? I guess..? They got a lot going on but always managed to make it work
Great ranking, even though I disagree on the top 3. However, it's not easy ranking albums from a band that has almost exclusively put out masterpieces. Here's my ranking 5. The Serpent and the Sphere - This is a phenomenal album with standout songlike the opening track, The Astral Dialogue and Dark Matter Gods. However, as compared to the rest of their discography this one might not be as consistant. 4. Pale Folklore - This one is still a bit raw and you can tell that they are still trying to find their sound. I nonetheless, love the sound mix of acoustic guitars, raw ABM and theat gothic feel that especially comes out with the female vocals in She Painted Fires Across the Sky. As Embers Dress the Sky is another classic. 3. Marrow of the Spirit - Here I can only say thank you, you're right I should definitely listen to that album more often. Maybe I don't listen to it that much because it's the only one I don't own (Vinyls cost a fortune). But I agree, it's incredible. Black Lake Nidstand is without the doubt one of their best tracks. That being said, at some point in the future this album might become number two. 2. Ashes Against the Grain - Well this album is pretty much flawless and the only reason this comes in second is the sheer perfecion which is about to follow. Limbs, Falling Snow and Not Unlike the Waves are all incredibly amazing songs. Falling Snow being the one that got me into Agalloch. 1. The Mantle - Well you said it, many people consider this the greatest album of all time and I'm 100% one of them; I do agree however that it might take a while to get into it. When it comes to this record I think there has never been an album as well put together as the Mantle. How the songs fit together and the recurring themes on this album are just astonishing. How the Great Cold Death of the Earth picks up on the intro. And after that when you think the album is over there comes another song which ends the whole albums with a final strike of that deer skull. I can hardly go a couple of weeks without listening to this thing and I'm blown away by it every single time. If I had to reduce my favorite songs to just a few it would be: In the Shadow of our Pale Companion, You were but a Ghost in my Arms and Great Cold Death of the Earth. I'd even have to say Desolation Song deserves a shout out for being something that Agalloch never did again and it comes so unexpected yet fits perfectly. The Mantle is my faovrite album of all time and absolute perfectiopn when it comes to album writing.
Your reasons for ranking The Mantle as number one are very persuasive. Just reading your take on the album made me appreciate it a lot more! Maybe my excitement about discovering how good Marrow of the Spirit is clouded my judgement a little and I can imagine MotS and The Mantle swapping places with each other depending on the day. I have way too much of a deeper personal connection with Ashes Against the Grain for that to budge though! Since this video, people have been telling me to check out the EPs (which I havent yet). What's your take on those?
@@thegothicviking1388 I have to admit I'm also not to familiar with the EPs, as I'm not the biggest EP person in general. However, lately I've been discovering a lot of amazing EPs so that this opinion is changing. From Agalloch I've really enjoyed the White EP and Faustian Echoes, but I'll listen to all of them again and maybe update this comment later ;)
@@thegothicviking1388 Alright I went back and listened to all the EPs and well it's Agalloch, hence their phantastic. They tend to lean more into Neofolk territory, where especially the White EP is an absolutely beautiful work. The split with Nest is also worth checking out. On the more BM side Faustian Echoes (one 20 min) song will give you incredible ABM Agalloch style. Of Stone, Wind and Pillor blends the Neofolk elements with harsher guitars and BM influences and is probably closes to their usual material. However, I do prefer the studio albums over the EPs, still anything this band touches is perfection.
@@tenacious_JB Great! Sounds like they're definitely worth the time. Maybe I'll listen to them all and do a separate video discussing them (not necessarily ranking them). Thabks again for sharing your opinions. I enjoy hearing them!
