Metascore
69

Generally favorable reviews - based on 16 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 16
  2. Negative: 0 out of 16
  1. Shelter from the Ash is another masterpiece.
  2. These eight songs may not be able to be covered by anybody else, but they are wonderfully constructed, beautifully textured, and exquisitely played.
  3. It’s bit of a risk for Chasny to polish his sound, but he’s succeeded in bottling the imaginative, audacious overflow of his past efforts into perhaps his most cohesive record yet.
  4. 80
    Shelter From The Ash displays some pretty wigged-out guitar work, but balanced by ruminative, minor-key acoustic moments that recall the mood of America's "Horse With No Name."
  5. The results are beautifully solemn.
  6. Mojo
    80
    Another impressive cocktail of Eastern-inflected drones, mantra-like vocals and thick slabs of empyrean noise guitar. [Dec 2007, p.100]
  7. Shelter bleeds enough drone and bliss to make a pretty smear of reality.
  8. Shelter from the Ash meshes the best elements of older Six Organs of Admittance albums with a new sense of cohesion.
  9. Shelter From The Ash is a more sedate affair, full of ghostly baroque folk stories that feel disappointingly ethereal.
  10. Spin
    60
    Despite Shelter From The Ash's transcendent drones and trippy, Eastern-inspired guitar figures...[Chasny's] vocals too often kill the buzz. [Dec 2007, p.125]
  11. Under The Radar
    60
    The songs on Shelter From The Ash can still stand strongly when taken in a shallow retrospect as an introduction to the band, but, when looking at the span of Chasney's prolific output, it can't help but feel like treading water. [Fall 2007, p.76]
  12. Q Magazine
    60
    It can be a little ponderous, but the unearthly dawn chorus of 'Jade Like Wine' or the ritual freakout of 'Goddess Atonement' leave you yearning ofr a solstice to celebrate. [Dec 2007, p.124]
  13. Given the exploratory transience of Six Organs' catalogue, Shelter from the Ash feels too much like work, too much like what had to happen.
  14. Although there are moments of striking beauty here, the guitar sounds become repetitive, and Chasny's vocal is not particularly convincing.
  15. Shelter doesn't settle into one sound--which is fine--but it's never able to harness its manic energy into anything coherent.

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