Agalloch – Marrow of the Spirit (2010) Review

Agalloch continues to grow and mature with every release. This album feels natural. It is the perfect progression and it is quite good.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Agalloch I will try to describe their sound. They play dark metal; image folk black metal played in a snowy Oregon forest. The music can be somewhat minimalistic but it never seems to get repetitive. A guitar will drone again and again and I will realize that it should be getting repetitive but it doesn’t. It builds and releases. It takes you down a dark road into a bleak forest covered in a blanket of snow. It lures you further and you become numb. Darkness encloses around you and suddenly you are warm. There is a humming, low at first. It builds. You feel snowflakes on your face but you can not see. Suddenly you feel the cold sting of the wind and the snowflakes become brittle. You are alive. This is the journey you will go on.

The songs are long (averaging over 10 minutes each) but you will only be aware of this if you stare at the read-out on your player. I put this album on and took a cold walk through the darker parts of town. After listening I was surprised to find out that there were only six tracks. The dynamics change often but subtly. You will get lost in this.

I find that this goes best with a long, cold walk. If that doesn’t work I recommend relaxing and seeing where this takes you. It’s one of the best albums of 2010.

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