Shelter from the Ash

Six Organs of Admittance | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (November 20, 2007)
• Original Release Date: 2007
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Drag City
• ASIN: B000VE2TKO
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl  |  MP3 Download
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #229,288 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Editorial Reviews

Quite at odds with the oddly asymmetric structuring of Ben Chasny's last album, The Sun Awakens (which had a number of short-ish tracks on the A-side and one vast monster of an epic jam on the flip), this latest Six Organs venture sounds marvellously album-like, with a beautifully threaded sequence of cosmic folk ragas, outr‚ guitar drones and most importantly, first-class songs. Chasny is joined by Magik Markers' Elisa Ambrogio on guitar, vocals and what is commonly termed 'vibes', but as tends to be the case in these instances Chasny's own performance demands the listener's focus. Rather than thieving from the John Fahey sound as tends to be de rigueur, Chasny references the ornate acoustic constructions of Bert Jansch and Davy Graham for his acoustic compositions whilst wailing mercilessly when he plugs into an amp. Consequently, on Shelter From The Ash you hear a far more earnest, much heavier example of the contemporary psych-folk sound. Frankly, as tends to be the case, Six Organs proves to be several cuts above the usual folk-influenced crowd. Songs such as 'Jade Like Wine' and the Ambrogio-led 'Goodbye' come across like Pentangle lost in some haunted cave, whilst 'Goddess Atonement' is an unreasonably virtuosic instrumental piece which manages to sound both compositionally accomplished and technically bewildering. Amazing material, start to finish. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Masterpiece, December 3, 2007

By 

Jackie Hoskison "Path Walker" (Shreveport, LA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Shelter from the Ash (Audio CD)

Another amazing record from Ben, and some of his friends. This album takes a different road than others before it. More song structure and lyrics this record takes you on a journey into a realm walked through by few. Get ready for a mind blowing, earth moving, mind thought into the world of Six Organs of Admittance.

4 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pretty dissapointing compared to what Six Organs have already done., January 31, 2008

By 

Parkansky "MERP" (Morehead, KY USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shelter from the Ash (Audio CD)

After giving this about 5 listens, Six Organs of Admittance' 10th album, Shelter From The Ash, is just very dissapointed compared to previous albums. I understand that an artist needs to grow and evolve their sound through the years, but this just sounds rushed, with very little new or interesting ideas. It seriously sounds as if Ben Chasny took the best elements of his earlier albums and compressed them to make them sound "pleasable" or "accesiable." Six Organs is not really an accessible band, so why bother?

With his last release, The Sun Awakens, Ben Chasny painted a multi-colored masterpiece, full of strange melodies and Eastern-influenced instruments, such as a tone generator and persian ney. On this album, it's just back to guitar and drums. Why the regression? And the production is very muddy. It sounds like the 8-track recordings Ben used to make.

There are some good songs on this though. Goddess Atonement has a very powerful melody throughout, and I really dig the searing guitar solo on Strangled Road. But some of the tracks just sound uninspired. The 'hit' on the album, Shelter From The Ash, sounded like an interesting song until the atonal messy guitar solo came in and turned the song into a disaster. Also, Coming To Get You takes so long to climax, you already know what's going to happen. And there are a few acoustic guitar solos throughout that just don't do anything. Yes, Ben, we understand that you're a terrific guitar player. Get on with it.

It's not all bad though. In fact, in all of the songs, there are some pleasant passages and great lyrics that save this album from being a 2. It's still Six Organs Of Admittance, and there really isn't any other music act that can pull this style off successfully.

All in all, though, diehard fans should love this. I don't think it's worth the price though. A bit dissapointing.