Ashes Against the Grain is a classic American metal record, but Ashes Against the Grain is also a middle child. Obviously, no band can know such a thing during the process of creation, but certain markers reveal themselves in retrospect. In the late ’90s, John Haughm, Don Anderson and Jason William Walton pooled the musical compulsions of their young adulthood into both Sculptured, a progressive death metal project helmed by Anderson, and Agalloch, a neofolk- and black metal-inspired project initially conceived by Haughm. The passion that drove efforts like Pale Folklore and Of Stone, Wind, and Pillor grew into an ambition and compositional confidence that allowed the trio to dream their baroque and brilliant record The Mantle into being. All this music came to fruition in the relative hermetic comfort of a small group of friends who shared a tight artistic language, who felt the freedom to create without external input.
On the strengths of these musical statements, Agalloch earned a steadily increasing renown, which carried with it the weight of new expectations and new questions. What was Agalloch’s sound? How far could the band members stray—either outward, toward the avant garde and the experimental, or inward, toward more simplified song structures—without betraying the band’s core purpose? Could they strive toward being a new darling progressive metal juggernaut, “the next Opeth,” as their label, The End Records, wanted? Did they even want that for themselves? Should they make the leap into a full live lineup and whip up a larger audience through relentless touring? And, of course, they were no longer so young anymore—now in their late 20s, with adult relationships and responsibilities encroaching, were they even interested in thinking and creating in the same way they had over the previous decade? Who were Agalloch?
This is the personal and professional tumult in which Ashes Against the Grain took shape. External pressures intermingled with the band’s own sense of self, putting identity and integrity at stake. Before Ashes, Agalloch were powered by a brash and youthful self-assurance; after Ashes, they had the benefit of hindsight, that struggles could be overcome and cast away. And in the cauldron at the center of it all, Agalloch crafted a set of songs that have been fan favorites for two decades and counting. The band’s newfound live performance experience informed the tautly rendered gems like “Not Unlike the Waves” and “Falling Snow.” Monolithic opener “Limbs” and the cataclysmic closing triptych “Our Fortress Is Burning” were lacquered in emotional layers without ever tipping past Agalloch’s ability to recreate them on the stage.
For too long, The Mantle has stood as the lone Agalloch representative in Decibel’s Hall of Fame. Finally, to celebrate 20 years of additional brilliance, we welcome Ashes Against the Grain to its rightful place in the Hall.
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