Ashes Against the Grain

Infobox Album | Name = Ashes Against the Grain
Type = studio
Artist = Agalloch


Released = August 8, 2006
Recorded = December 10, 2005 - January 2006
Genre = Folk metal
Black metal
Doom metal
Length = 59:49
Label = The End Records (TE068) (North America), Grau/Prophecy (Europe)
Producer =
Reviews =
*AbsolutePunk.net (91%) [http://absolutepunk.net/showthread.php?t=229429 link]
*Allmusic Rating|4.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:5p59kextgq7z link]
* NeuFutur Rating-10|7 [http://www.neufutur.com/Reviews/agalloch.html link]
* PopMatters Rating-10|9 [http://www.popmatters.com/pm/music/reviews/agalloch-ashes-against-the-grain/ link]
*Pitchfork Media Rating-10|8 [http://pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/38068/Agalloch_Ashes_Against_the_Grain link]
*PiercingMetal Rating|4|5 [http://www.piercingmetal.com/cd_agalloch_ashesagainst.htm link]
Last album = "Split with Nest (EP)"
(2005)
This album = "Ashes Against The Grain"
(2006)
Next album = "The White"
(2008)

"Ashes Against the Grain" is an album by American metal band Agalloch under the Brooklyn, New York-based label, The End Records. It is Agalloch's third full-length release, four years after the critically acclaimed "The Mantle".

Before the release, the track "Falling Snow" was made available in its entirety on the label's website and on the band's MySpace page. Reports indicate a version of the album was leaked on the web in May 2006.

A pre-release review in the July 2006 issue of Toronto-based Exclaim! magazine described the new album as a "departure and an extension" from the band's previous work::"The songs tend to move with restraint, as Agalloch's characteristic threads of black metal, folk and ambient sounds coalesce with more doom and art rock."

Three versions of the album were released: a slipcase edition, a deluxe wooden box version (limited to 500 copies) and a vinyl version (limited to 1000 copies).

The vinyl version was released on March 2nd, 2007 through The End Records' Infinite Vinyl Series. It was pressed in three different colors:
:* A clear/orange splatter edition limited to 200 copies.":* A black edition limited to 400 copies.:* A clear orange edition limited to 400 copies.

All three vinyl editions include an exclusive bonus track, "Scars Of The Shattered Sky (Our Fortress Has Burned To The Ground)"

Track listing

#"Limbs" – 9:50
#"Falling Snow" – 9:38
#"This White Mountain on Which You Will Die" – 1:39 (Instrumental)
#"Fire Above, Ice Below" – 10:28
#"Not Unlike the Waves" – 9:15
#"Our Fortress Is Burning... I" – 5:25 (Instrumental)
#"Our Fortress Is Burning... II - Bloodbirds" – 6:20
#"Our Fortress Is Burning... III - The Grain" – 7:09 (Instrumental)
#"Scars of the Shattered Sky (Our Fortress Has Burned to the Ground)" – 19:38 (limited edition bonus track)

Miscellanea

*A Cradle of Filth leak of the track "Libertina Grimm" from their Roadrunner album "Thornography" is mislabeled and is actually Agalloch's "Limbs".
*A music video was recorded for "Not Unlike the Waves," and despite strong opposition from the band, an abridged version of the song was used.
*An interview with the singer, John Haughm, provided to their fan-base his own introspective review of this album. "

External links

* [http://www.theendrecords.com/label/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=414&Itemid=49 Official press release] from The End Records
* [http://www.metalstorm.ee/pub/interview.php?interview_id=386 John Haughm Interview]