lol putting a calling card of Agalloch's worst tropes (bad poetry, ham-fisted acoustics, song structures that don't evolve naturally, pacing that drags its feet) in their top 5 tells you a lot about a fan
they normally make it p easy to turn a blind eye when one or another of those things crop up, but that track just makes me wince. maybe their weakest pre-Serpent cut and the only bum note on this tracklist

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

I love you Johnny but I cannot walk with you on the Dead Winter Days take

Album Rating: 4.0

On Hallways rn, liking this more and more with each passing minute. Insanely good guitar work, vocals don't bother me as much as BM vocals have in the past

Album Rating: 4.0

Not 100% seeing the Dead Winter Days hate. I'm enjoying it tbh

tell me that acoustic solo (both as a composition and in its mix) isn't a ruthless immersion-breaker

Album Rating: 4.0

spinning it now for the first time in a couple years, will return with thoughts

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

I don't really see how the acoustic part differs all that much from some of the other rougher edges around Pale Folklore. It's clunky, yes, but has personality and I find it easier to circle than, say, Haughm's mother's operatic vocals on She Painted Fire lol



Pale Folklore is a 5 to me because it swings so hard that the results are at least interesting even if it technically misses.



Dead Winter Days might be my favorite track here just because it takes so many swings and has such an oppressive winter atmosphere. Maybe it gets a little silly sometimes, but it fuckin rules!

Album Rating: 4.0

yeah I was like "is this the one Johnny's talking about?" and waited the rest of the track for one that's actually jarring that never came. it sounds like the beta run of what really worked on Wooden Doors three years later.

defs evokes Wooden Doors, but the same contrast works far better there imo largely bc the solo itself isn't a total clunker
I agree otherwise that this album is special for the conviction it wears over its rough edges, but that track is the one point where its brand of amateurism slips from fuck-it-lfg to leave-it-on-the-demo-tape. riffs are turgid compared to the rest of the album (last two minutes excepted), the kms refrain is forever cringe (somehow moreso than the CRIES OF A THOUSAND RAVENS verse even) and, maybe most importantly, it gets blown out of the water by Embers following up with the perfect take on the kind of track it tries so hard to be
thank you for coming to my tedx sevengill can put the handcuffs on now

Album Rating: 5.0

Yeah Dead Winter Days rules don't trust Johnny on anything related to metal.

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

hold up now



I am doing a listen for the first time in a while, you cannot honestly tell me there is ANYTHING else in Agalloch's discography that is half as immersion-breaking as I SAW THE SHADOWS at the beginning of Painted Fire pt. III lol

on first listen, absolutely not lol
but coming back to it, that bit stands out so much that you just roll with it as part of the spectacle - has a take it or leave it appeal that I can't q pin on a stray line getting in the way of an otherwise salvageable track (though it'd take more than just that to fix it etcetc)

Album Rating: 5.0

best album ever made agreed

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

Idk, maybe I'm just too big of an Agalloch fan -even through all their demos and EP's- where the acoustic solo on DWD just sounds like typical Agalloch stuff from their pre-ashes Days. It honestly just doesn't even register with me that that passage COULD be a point of contention for someone listening to them at all lol



The beginning of Painted Fire pt. III is really lucky that I am such a sucker for this band and forgiving of its blemishes because the "I SAW THE SHADOWS" part is, like, ridiculously silly. I get secondhand embarrassment from it every time I hear it but I can compartmentalize because the rest of the song/album kick so much ass lol



But, like I said, I'm a bit of a superfan and have enjoyed everything sans Serpent to some degree of ridiculous adoration.

Album Rating: 5.0

I SAW THE NIGHTFALL...



IT CALLED TO ME LIKE A RIVER OF SHADOWS



IT SANG TO ME WITH THE CRIES OF A THOUSAND RAVENS THAT BLACKENED THE SKY



AS THEY TOOK FLIGHT AND BLARGGHHH

Album Rating: 4.0

I have decided that it's a 4 for me, for now at least. The "I SAW THE SHADOWS" part is definitely a bit cheesy, but I really can't criticize cheese when I have some of the corniest bullshit highly ranked LMAO

I expect this to grow on me more and more as I keep checking out black metal stuff

Album Rating: 5.0

lmao I typed that at the same time as you Odal

Album Rating: 4.5

That part is super charming. The atmosphere on this album is perfect

Album Rating: 5.0

Painted Fire 3 goes SO hard it's unbelievable

moar ravens yes plz [3]