Agalloch - Ashes Against the Grain

Methinks Portland, OR's Agalloch doth try a little too hard to classify themselves. The press sheet accompanying their newest release, Ashes Against the Grain, labels them everything in the world but a jugband: "gothic doom, black metal, neo-folk, post rock, and industrial/ambient soundscapes". The only word I found that fits, however, is "brooding". Chock full of chugging, fuzzy guitars and nine-and-a-half minute songs titled "Fire Above, Ice Below" and "This White Mountain on Which You Will Die," the record broods better than that kid in the Smiths shirt you had Intro to Poetry Writing with. You will be shocked to learn, however, that lying within the spacy guitar-driven rock and roll, there is a giant lizard monster. The singer chokes and gurgles his way throughout this hour-long epic, oblivious to the change in demeanor the rest of the act has been through. What results is an album of attractive white-noisy heavy rock constantly trying to recover from overly brutal vocals. [www.agalloch.org]