Agalloch
Marrow Of The Spirit

Even the cold winter can warm a heart and create shards of dreams, ice paintings with penetrating eyes that observe the soul in every groove, as if it were an old vinyl record that, despite multiple uses, hides secrets and doors opening onto unknown places and times.

Agalloch knows this well, and in their latest effort, fittingly titled "Marrow Of The Spirit," they draw on hypnotic suggestions and the power of the winter season to create a compact work, cold and warm at the same time and distinctly metal. In fact, what immediately strikes the listener is a strong heaviness of sound, with the inclusion of violent blast beats and more abrasive and incisive screaming, as demonstrated by the second track: "Into The Painted Grey", a fast and heavy piece, but full of a great dose of atmosphere, expressed by an overwhelming guitar work and a truly admirable "Scandinavian aftertaste", which, while pervading the entire work, does not in the least detract from the personality and uniqueness that make the band in question one of the most interesting in the metal field and beyond.

Another important point to highlight is the length of the tracks, which, apart from the wonderful "They Escaped The Weight Of Darkness" (a bucolic intro of great effect), comfortably reach ten minutes, even exceeding them abundantly, like "Blake Lake Niostang", which, with its seventeen minutes of duration, encapsulates within itself all the sense and depth of the album under examination and manages to condense the various characteristics of the American band, such as the folk and post-rock imprint, into a dreamlike and hermetic atmosphere that leaves no escape.

In conclusion, we are faced with a particular work, not easily assimilated, which requires multiple listens to be well understood (let's be clear, once it's in the stereo it drags instantly, but it needs deeper exploration to be appreciated in all its nuances) and that might leave somewhat perplexed all those who appreciate the more melodic and melancholic side of the band under examination, still present here but, as mentioned at the beginning, accompanied by a massive dose of European-rooted metal extremism.