Fen - Epoch (2011)
This is decent enough I guess, I thought it would be a lot better though. There's nothing really that original about Fen's brand of atmospheric black metal but it has its moments here and there. Their barrage of sound is broken up by quiet instrumental passages and some clean vocals occasionally. There's some interesting twists and turns here that gives the music a bit of a progressive bent and makes them feel like a black metal equivalent of Opeth. It does get a bit boring and repetitive at times and perhaps the production could have been a lot better too. I admire their ambition but somehow they just don't seem able to pull it off. I will give this another chance though.
Agalloch - Ashes Against The Grain (2006)
Been meaning to check these guys out and hear what all the fuss is about. I'm enjoying this, they seem to have a better grip on the atmospheric black metal sound than Fen and sound that bit more original. There's a very nice mixture of sounds here, ranging from black metal to folk to post-rock to ambient and they seem to put them all together effortlessly. A very enjoyable album.