Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

Oh, absolutely. NPR has done a really commendable job of shining a light on a lot of weird metal releases over the years. Probably the best mainstream publication for metal

Album Rating: 5.0

Ashes really should have blown them up massively... That album was insane. It did blow up, but in smaller circles, it didn't really go mainstream. Really a shame, probably a top 5 album of all time

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

Pale, Ashes, and Mantle are all in contention for their best and cycle through depending on what particular shade of gray I'm feeling during the colder months.



I still think Mantle is probably their most consistent and where I'd feel most comfortable staking their legacy on, but that's splitting hairs.

Album Rating: 5.0

I feel like Ashes was the one that branched out the most adventurously though. Feel like that one deserved the most credit. Everything else is a variation on folk/bm but Ashes just went head-first into post-metal in an extremely bold way

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

No pushback from me there. Ashes is probably their most unique full-length, for sure.

Album Rating: 5.0

This will always be best but first 4 may be the best 4 album run of all time.

Ashes definitely raised the bar on the Mantle by several notches, easily their slickest record
This and Marrow can duke it out over their best for atmosphere and rough edges, find it hard to pick an overall fav but it's definitely one of the three

Album Rating: 5.0

This and Marrow definitely have similar atmospheres. But this one is just so raw and frigid.

I find Marrow murkier and icier tbh, this one plays with the comfort of a hearthside jam in a cold night

Album Rating: 4.5

God its a shame the vocalist is a racist bc I would rather not feel guilt liking this

Album Rating: 5.0

Johnny I disagree kinda but I wouldn't argue that at all. Marrow is the closest to this in atmosphere 100%.

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

Marrow is definitely their coldest sounding release. Between the two bookending songs and ghost of the midwinter fires and black lake....it makes me feel like I'm in the woods a snowy winter night for sure. Not a lot that's "cozy" there lol

Album Rating: 5.0

be honest... you sing the "Red birds escape" part in the shower... I know I still do...

they're defs the closest in atmosphere, but this one is so built on driving riffs that I get a much more optimistic tone from it (to be taken with a hundred pinches of salt lol). it's still a depressive record as a whole, but there's a will and an energy somewhere in it that whereas Marrow is more a grim landscape/mythology experience to me - less of the intimate sturm und drang energy this has in spades
don't care to have a preference here, the band nailed both vibes

Ashes and Marrow are tied for my top spot. Ashes has been my favorite since I heard it years and years ago, but I am leaning towards Marrow lately.

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

This feels more like being holed up in a cabin.



Marrow feels like you're stranded outside.

Album Rating: 5.0

Marrow is definitely a "don a fedora and wander into the woods with a corncob pipe" kind of record, Pale Folklore is more like drinking moonshine by the fire with your friends in the woods and being emo. Slightly different vibes

Album Rating: 4.0

"first 4 may be the best 4 album run of all time"

Mastodon, Metallica, and Black Sabbath have entered the chat

Album Rating: 4.0

"best 4-album opening run" might be a solid list concept. I'll ruminate on it.

Album Rating: 5.0 | Sound Off

iirc the band had a bit of an intervention with him after some time away and they stand by him being a changed person. It was still a super disappointing revelation, but it does mean something that the band seemingly broke up in part because of it and are now playing together again.