“There is a hole in North American metal. The Great Cold Death of Agalloch was abrupt though not unwarranted given the air of similarity by the release of Marrow of the Spirit and the questionable success of the experimentation in The Serpent and the Sphere. It’s preferable to leave your audience wanting more than ultimately tiring them. But such was their influence that there are many bands, particularly from the Cascadian scene, which bear clear lines of affinity to them.” The mourning has not broken.