Marrow of the spirit

[larvtard]

My friend just burned me this CD (This was my first taste of Agalloch, mind you). Honestly, I found it kind of boring. That's not to say they're bad musicians or anything, but I gotta tell you, they would be SO much better if they sang. I can just imagine it

Yeah, the black metal vocals don't belong here. They just don't work for me.

[IrritatedTrout]

Actually, there are clean vocals on all their other albums. Really good ones at that.

[idrinkwine732]

The Mantle has very little blackened vocals.

[larvtard]

Originally Posted by IrritatedTrout

Actually, there are clean vocals on all their other albums. Really good ones at that.

Yeah, my brother told me that they're prevalent on The Mantle especially. I'll have to check their other stuff out then.

Originally Posted by idrinkwine732

The Mantle has very little blackened vocals.

Confirmed.

[idrinkwine732]

I think you'll also like Ashes Against the Grain too, because the vocals fit a lot more with the more metallic sound.

[Div]

Ashes was very progressive sounding, I'm glad they combined their older styles with that on their new album because it sounds really unique.

As for the vocals, I hate it when people hate on growling just because it doesnt sound clean. Clean vocals wouldn't totally kill this album, but it would take away heavily from the mood the band was going for. I mean listen to that haunting screaming in the middle of Black Lake Nidstang, if it was sung in a clean voice then that part wouldn't even stand out or have any emotion in it. Clean vocals in dark atmospheric music just don't make sense.

[larvtard]

Originally Posted by Div

As for the vocals, I hate it when people hate on growling just because it doesnt sound clean. Clean vocals wouldn't totally kill this album, but it would take away heavily from the mood the band was going for. I mean listen to that haunting screaming in the middle of Black Lake Nidstang, if it was sung in a clean voice then that part wouldn't even stand out or have any emotion in it. Clean vocals in dark atmospheric music just don't make sense.

To me it sounded like the mood on this album called for singing, not black metal screaming, which is funny because this is apparently their most black metal-sounding album

Anyways, that's just my opinion regardless. I'll give Ashes a listenn to, thanks wine.

[Akumu]

Originally Posted by loganarchy

Yeah, the black metal vocals don't belong here. They just don't work for me.

I haven't heard this one yet, but you're not alone in this. Theoretically, Agalloch's one of those bands that I should adore... but their vocalist drives me up the wall every time he growls, and arrrgh. I don't hate harsh vox - it's just something about his harsh vox that completely ruin the band for me. :/

To make this post slightly relevant, I'll give them another shot - streaming this on the NPR site now. So far, the cello is lovely.

[larvtard]

Originally Posted by Akumu

I haven't heard this one yet, but you're not alone in this. Theoretically, Agalloch's one of those bands that I should adore... but their vocalist drives me up the wall every time he growls, and arrrgh. I don't hate harsh vox - it's just something about his harsh vox that completely ruin the band for me. :/

To make this post slightly relevant, I'll give them another shot - streaming this on the NPR site now. So far, the cello is lovely.

I'm not a fan of his harsh vox either, but that's not what I was saying exactly. If Agalloch were a pure black metal band, I would be fine with the vox. But they're not, and so I'm not.

[ShatteredFlame]

You guys are weird. Although I do agree that if they only had harsh vox they probably wouldn't be as interesting, as I think the clean vocals really work, but they just wouldn't be the same without the harsh vox. Listen to the song Bloodbirds. The instrumental build up leading into the harsh vox coming at the very end of the song is completely crushing.