Pallbearer: Band To Watch With Sorrow and Extinction
Hey, kids.
I may be a tad late to the party (story of my life) in declaring Pallbearer a "band to watch", considering their debut demo came out in 2010 and the band itself was formed in 2008.
This sludgy, macabre and yet melodic combo from Little Rock, Arkansas have taken a jump in the deep end recently, however, with the release of the full length platter, "Sorrow and Extinction".
Yes, it's about as cheery as it sounds, and that's a great thing for all the blackened souls that eat stuff like this up with a big, fat spoon (like, oh, I don't know, me).
Just five tracks are on offer here, which might be a little weak for a full length if it weren't for the fact that, as is common with many doom and gloom offerings, not a single song clocks in at less than eight minutes (with the opening song, "Foreigner", coming in at more than twelve).
The album starts out beautifully with the gentle acoustic guitar intro for the aforementioned "Foreigner" (sadly, as far as I can tell, not an ode to the original hot blooded juke box heroes, but I guess one can't have everything).
When the heaviness kicks in, at around the three minute mark, bright, symphonic lead guitar parts soar over dense, slow, crushing rhythm guitars.
It's these textures that really set Pallbearer apart from a lot of their peers.
Well, that and the remarkable voice of Brett Campbell.
Campbell takes from the traditions of the best doom and metal singers.
Sometimes chant-y or droning but never quite monotone, other times melodic, not afraid to go into his higher registers (unlike some singers in the genre), he seems to have one foot firmly in the classic Ozzy textbook favored by the likes of Sheavy's Steve Hennessey (and, to a lesser extent, almost everybody else) and the other in the progressive and operatic traditions of Dio, Dickinson and their ilk.
Perhaps Mr.
Campbell is a fan of both the best known Sabbath lineups, although he has a more folksy timbre to his voice than either Ozzy or Dio.
One thing he steers clear of is the more overtly bluesy, southern phrasings that crop up in Wino's singing; Campbell tends towards a more pure vocal sound.
"Devoid of Redemption" keeps the sludge coming, even heavier than the first track, but again the harmony guitar parts and Campbell's soulful vocals keep things from becoming monotonous.
In fact, the more I listen to this album, it sounds more like a synthesis of doom metal, stoner rock and power metal.
Fine by me, as all of those are among my favorite current metal genres (partly, I'm sure, because they all recall earlier metal sounds that weren't so firmly divided into subgenres).
Dark, heavy, distorted bass parts distinguish the beginning of "The Legend", as I'm again reminded of post-Ozzy Sabbath (in this case, the underrated Ian Gillan record, "Born Again" and bits of '92's Dio-reunion album, "Dehumanizer").
Twin guitars here come off a little more Priest than Maiden (actually, more "Ride the Lightning"-era Metallica than anything), and again lift the song to epic heights while the vocals, though still melodic, manage to cast a bit of a hypnotic drone.
"An Offering of Grief" gets the same heavy bass intro treatment, though it's kept brief here.
There's a bit of sameness to this and the preceding track at first, but this one develops into something more anxiety-inducing and that tensions builds as the song progresses, with densely layered vocals building a suffocating atmosphere that breaks and lets the light in towards the end.
A very well-crafted penultimate number.
Which leads us to the last track, "Given to the Grave", which starts out with a more ambient sound that eventually develops into a lope that feels a lot like the surf crashing against the beach; this feel has come up more than once on this record, but it is more direct here, taking the theme and making it concrete.
Three minutes in, the song breaks down to a very minimalistic approach which begins to build back up verrry slowly.
This is a great, epic closing track and satiates my fondness for the cheesier aspects of metal without crossing the line into parody.
Not that I don't like stuff that crosses the line into parody; I love it.
But I suspect this album will appeal to palettes more refined than my own as well, by judiciously restraining their excesses to just the proper amount.
Unless you're not a fan of epic bombast, in which case, I must regard you with suspicion.
So, here we are, just February, and already I've found one of my favorite albums of the year.
I may be a tad late to the party (story of my life) in declaring Pallbearer a "band to watch", considering their debut demo came out in 2010 and the band itself was formed in 2008.
This sludgy, macabre and yet melodic combo from Little Rock, Arkansas have taken a jump in the deep end recently, however, with the release of the full length platter, "Sorrow and Extinction".
Yes, it's about as cheery as it sounds, and that's a great thing for all the blackened souls that eat stuff like this up with a big, fat spoon (like, oh, I don't know, me).
Just five tracks are on offer here, which might be a little weak for a full length if it weren't for the fact that, as is common with many doom and gloom offerings, not a single song clocks in at less than eight minutes (with the opening song, "Foreigner", coming in at more than twelve).
The album starts out beautifully with the gentle acoustic guitar intro for the aforementioned "Foreigner" (sadly, as far as I can tell, not an ode to the original hot blooded juke box heroes, but I guess one can't have everything).
When the heaviness kicks in, at around the three minute mark, bright, symphonic lead guitar parts soar over dense, slow, crushing rhythm guitars.
It's these textures that really set Pallbearer apart from a lot of their peers.
Well, that and the remarkable voice of Brett Campbell.
Campbell takes from the traditions of the best doom and metal singers.
Sometimes chant-y or droning but never quite monotone, other times melodic, not afraid to go into his higher registers (unlike some singers in the genre), he seems to have one foot firmly in the classic Ozzy textbook favored by the likes of Sheavy's Steve Hennessey (and, to a lesser extent, almost everybody else) and the other in the progressive and operatic traditions of Dio, Dickinson and their ilk.
Perhaps Mr.
Campbell is a fan of both the best known Sabbath lineups, although he has a more folksy timbre to his voice than either Ozzy or Dio.
One thing he steers clear of is the more overtly bluesy, southern phrasings that crop up in Wino's singing; Campbell tends towards a more pure vocal sound.
"Devoid of Redemption" keeps the sludge coming, even heavier than the first track, but again the harmony guitar parts and Campbell's soulful vocals keep things from becoming monotonous.
In fact, the more I listen to this album, it sounds more like a synthesis of doom metal, stoner rock and power metal.
Fine by me, as all of those are among my favorite current metal genres (partly, I'm sure, because they all recall earlier metal sounds that weren't so firmly divided into subgenres).
Dark, heavy, distorted bass parts distinguish the beginning of "The Legend", as I'm again reminded of post-Ozzy Sabbath (in this case, the underrated Ian Gillan record, "Born Again" and bits of '92's Dio-reunion album, "Dehumanizer").
Twin guitars here come off a little more Priest than Maiden (actually, more "Ride the Lightning"-era Metallica than anything), and again lift the song to epic heights while the vocals, though still melodic, manage to cast a bit of a hypnotic drone.
"An Offering of Grief" gets the same heavy bass intro treatment, though it's kept brief here.
There's a bit of sameness to this and the preceding track at first, but this one develops into something more anxiety-inducing and that tensions builds as the song progresses, with densely layered vocals building a suffocating atmosphere that breaks and lets the light in towards the end.
A very well-crafted penultimate number.
Which leads us to the last track, "Given to the Grave", which starts out with a more ambient sound that eventually develops into a lope that feels a lot like the surf crashing against the beach; this feel has come up more than once on this record, but it is more direct here, taking the theme and making it concrete.
Three minutes in, the song breaks down to a very minimalistic approach which begins to build back up verrry slowly.
This is a great, epic closing track and satiates my fondness for the cheesier aspects of metal without crossing the line into parody.
Not that I don't like stuff that crosses the line into parody; I love it.
But I suspect this album will appeal to palettes more refined than my own as well, by judiciously restraining their excesses to just the proper amount.
Unless you're not a fan of epic bombast, in which case, I must regard you with suspicion.
So, here we are, just February, and already I've found one of my favorite albums of the year.
Source...