The Mantle

Awesome post-metal album. Somehow the massive wall of sound brings callness in my mind

It’s not every day you listen to an album featuring a deer skull as an instrument. I dreaded the “extreme metal” moniker. Never fear, this was a moody, interesting album - great recommendation!

Black metal, folk metal, post-metal, doom metal. Casi todo instrumental. Me ha gustado. Un 4.

Great post metal album. It has a lot of variation with also impressive acoustic bits. You can hear the influence of Godspeed You! Black Emperor in the atmospheric guitar layers. Not similar to Godspeed, but a inspiring reuse of a layering method in another music genre.

This is a message on behalf of 1001 album users - the thing missing from the original 1001 list was not 1001 of your friend Gary’s post metal band’s albums

I love this album and band! I was thinking about submitting it. Not enough of a variety of metal represented on the list.

I can see the link to 'Godspeed You!' and I do like that aspect of this album- the longer tracks are able to weave a tale rather than conform to the traditional 'song' structure. Not too sure of the Metal influences but I can ignore those. I also like the traditional pagan imagery and song titles. A fine album.

One likes the magisterial tempos and expansiveness and the emphasis on post-rock vibes (over the metal elements that might have sunk this). Solid. Could easily replace any or most of the metal lists on the list proper.

Expansive post-rock LP that reminded me (in a great way) of Deafheaven mixed in with some acoustic and folk elements, clear to see the influence from this in the aughts to the spacey blackgaze and post-metal of today. The LP did feel a bit diffuse throughout its considerable runtime, and I can't believe I'm saying this but I wish there were /more/ vocals to ground the tracks a little bit. Solid listen and an interesting band I'd like to hear more from.

Musically I thought this was a well done album. Moody, but not overly dark or heavy. Not a fan of the grittier vocal style, but it was just restrained enough to not really get irritating. Fave Songs: The Hawthorne Passage, The Lodge, ...And the Great Cold Death of the Earth, Odal, I Am the Wooden Doors

Beyond its obvious musicianship, you need to judge *The Mantle* on very specific standards, since Agalloch opened their black metal fare to a vast range of other genres on that album -- and this years before other post-metal acts decided to do the same. Those standards can be summed up with two pivotal questions: are the different genres tackled here handled or served well? And do those different music styles mesh properly overall? For the first question: I'm no expert in black metal, so obviously, I can't fully judge if the vocals and guitar parts are pulled off well. Of course, this is where my own subjectivity plays a part: vocal parts seemingly sung by orcs or trolls will never *fully* appeal to me, I imagine... But beyond said natural reluctance, I also can't help sensing that the production values on this thing sometimes sound a bit thin whenever growled or saturated parts are put to the foreground. But can you really blame a niche band that has no other choice but to record on a budget, at least to a certain extent? The folk aspects are pretty cool, generally speaking. And they can sound deep and rich (which unfortunately strengthens the contrast with the manner the metal sections sound). Examples: the magnificent instrumental "The Lodge", closer "A Desolation Song", the folk elements of "And The Great Cold Death Of The Earth". The end of the album is far stronger than its start by the way, both in terms of aural sound and composition. The post-rock build-ups and shoegazey elements sound a bit lacking in terms of imaginative melodic writing though -- especially compared to the masters of the genre Agalloch tried to take a page out of here. In other words, the inclusion of those other elements come off as a flat attempt overall (Deafheaven would pull that off far better a decade later, for instance...). A quick note here: contrary to what I have to say about the black metal chunks, I feel like I can give my two cents about those other styles without feeling like a fraud, you know. And what my two cents say is that this particular part of the Agalloch formula is not exactly "good" here. One clear exception, though: "The Hawthorne Passage", once again towards the end of the LP. Excellent post-rock here. But by that point, it feels like this success comes a little too late... Last question: are all those styles meshing together well? Not always in my book. But maybe I'm just ill-equipped to answer this question given what I think about black metal on a very general level... 3/5 for the purposes of this list of essential albums (and I admit my listening habits and very surface knowledge of the whole black metal genre play a part in my subjective assessment...) 8/10 for more general purposes (5 + 3) Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 Albums from the original list I *might* include in mine later on: 288 Albums from the original list I won't include in mine: 336 ----- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 43 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 54 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 106 (including this one)

Not as hardcore as I had expected/hoped. More orchestral than I expected/wanted. Still fun and way better than my previous album on here: Dream Theater

Kinda dark. Kinda good. I’m kinda digging it.

Phenomenal

I would definitely want to give this album another listen!

I was okay with this until the 5min mark when Gollum started singing. I don’t mind the cinematic music but I found the vocals a bit silly.

I've tried to listen to this a number of times over the years. It was first sold to me as "if you like Opeth, you'll love this". This was just after Blackwater Park came out and I was FROTHING on Opeth at the time. But it just didn't click for me. Too much Post-Rock influence maybe. It's not bad, it just isn't the masterpiece their die-hard fans think it is. Needs bigger HOOKS. 3/5.

I slept through most of this sorry

Not typically my thing but I can appreciate 3.3

Pretty good

Musically it's pretty cool, but overall just not my thing. 3 stars.

Interesting musically, lyrically didn't really get me there. The monster vocals were as usual not my cuppa and rendered the lyrics largely incomprehensible. What I could parse seemed like a typical pastiche of high fantasy, pseudo-mythology and old time religion of some under-specific sort. For all this I didn't dislike it at all, especially the more conventionally sung parts which fit the music well.

Rating: 6/10 Best songs: You were but a ghost in my arms

Música no demasiado intensa, tonos melancólicos y un tanto depresivos. No mucho protagonismo de las voces guturales. Se puede escuchar, no es demasiado agresivo. Me lo esperaba más fuerte, pero así no me ha parecido malo del todo

This was a pretty ominous and strong instrumental metal album. The lyrics are pretty slim and when they do come in, ai don’t love them. The instrumentals are pretty good though and the dark flow of it has a unique mood. But what’s up with metal bands and Elk or Deer? 4.7/10

Musikaliskt så var det inga problem. Lät lite Neofolk. Sen började han sjunga...

Not my kind of music. Didn’t do anything but sit of the surface of my ear drums.