Agalloch – Marrow Of The Spirit

My favourite Agalloch album and I will fight for it

I'm not sure what the band hoped to achieve by recording this on vintage analog equipment. The sound lacks some bite that their other albums have. Mostly the clarity and dynamics suffered. The song writing is still quite good. Lesson learned: vintage does not mean better.

Marrow of the Spirit has a more earthly, more metal, less folk tone comparing to Agalloch’s previous works and definitely has its place in the bands great discography.

The album kicks off with a somber cello river age until “Into the Painted Grey” storms in with that drum fill that really startled me on first listen. Something about the production (maybe echo or reverb) that makes the tempo of this songs intro seem crushingly fast. Very epic and transcendental moments and lyrics, especially with the chorus.

“Black Lake Nidstang” is very atmospheric and eerie, the most interesting sonically. Shivery vocal work, lyrics and mesmerizing beautiful drone midsection makes this my favourite on this record. The xylophone acts as a mirage to the enclosing darkness of drone perfectly.

The guitar work and drumming in “Ghost of Midwinter Fires” is quite awesome however the midsection doesn’t do much for me, would have preferred this as an instrumental. “To Drown” finishing off things dramatically with more somber cello and guitar. Least favourite song being “The Watcher’s Monolith” as it’s too much a boiling pot of different ideas that don’t blend as well, but not a bad song by any means.

Pale Folklore got reissued just recently, and Agalloch official facebook hinted "Yes, there will be deluxe editions of the other albums eventually..."

We need a repress of this classic, i cant and will never pay these rip off prices!

I wonder why this LP hasn't been repressed yet on classic vinyl (not picture-disc). I know from my personal friends alone a lot of people who would want a LP copy of this, and you can see for how huge prices these sell. Bummer.

I'm wondering if there is the rejected test press version of 5 and then the approved version out of 10?

Anyone know if there's a repress of the Marrow of the Spirit LP coming?

Appears that there's actually 10. My copy is 8 of 10.

Amazing album, and great pressing. This LP is definitely the best way to experience this masterpiece.