Album Rating: 4.5

The Grain is easily the worst here but This Mountain's is a great transition track.

Oh On Which You... is okay I guess. The one I'm not too fond of is the last one in the trilogy.

In fact it is the sole reason I don't have this 5'd. Might even be my least favorite track in all the full lengths,

Album Rating: 4.5

That's the exact reason I have this 4.5d too, and yeah those are the worst tracks of their entire catalogue.

Album Rating: 5.0

The Grain has a point though if you consider Scars of The Shattered Sky the real last song.

Album Rating: 4.5

Yes it does but its execution is still flawed.

Album Rating: 5.0

The grain is top 3 agalloch dude

Album Rating: 4.0

The Grain is Agalloch gone Coil. If you dont get it, then it's your problem. It's a tribute to Coil. And if you dont know again, Coil was one of inspirational bands for them. Can be easily found in interviews.

Album Rating: 5.0

I think The grain would've worked better on an EP though, it felt a bit out of place here and not really in a good way. I know John claims that the Grain is what inspired the whole trilogy (I don't see how the hell it did), I think the album could have finished with a 10+ minute melancholic instrumental which incorporated a bit of drone but not a purely drone track like The Grain. I guess that's exactly what the scars of the shattered sky was though.

Album Rating: 4.5

The first 2 Fortress parts could have been easily put together. The Grain should have been half as long as it is, and maybe this would have been a 5 for me.

Album Rating: 3.5

The Grain's like the perfect way to end the album for me, puts you into that trance-like state and makes everything you've just listened to seem even more effective somehow

Album Rating: 4.5

... but it goes on for soo looong

Album Rating: 5.0

The more you listen to it, the more the intricacies and nuances stand out, well theyre not that subtle really but its not as though its 7 minutes of the same sound

Album Rating: 4.5

yeah yeah, I already noticed that, but it's literally a 7 minute outro to a 1 hour long album. It's over a tenth of the album, that just doesn't work out to me.

I felt that way about the grain at first but it grew on me the more I listened. Blood birds is a climactic moment for the album as a whole (all of our shadows are ashes against the grain) and the grain sounds like a denouement after that climactic track.

Album Rating: 4.5

but that wasn't my point. I do think that The Grain makes for a nice outro but, like I said before, it doesn't have to last 7 minutes. 3 to 4 minutes would have done great. The length makes it lose its momentum.

Album Rating: 5.0

Yeah I guess so we're sort of splitting hairs though

It's personal preference in the end. Personally I don't think it could have the same effect if it was split in half. It's a powerful album and a 7 min "comedown" doesn't feel like too much for me

Album Rating: 5.0

Whole album is perfect.

Album Rating: 4.5

Tempted to 5 it, but I like The Mantle measurably more.