I had not heard of Pallbearer until I saw the vinyl in a rack at a book store. I saw the label was Profound Lore, which I have heard of so I checked out some samples later on and liked what I heard. The album is a sludgy, doomy record with thick guitars and clean vocals.
"Worlds Apart" opens the album with a nice, melancholy guitar melody over layered, fuzzy guitars. I enjoy the clean vocals on this album. The chorus has layered vocals that bleed into each other. About halfway through, the song changes a bit and begins building up to the outro of the track, which slows to a crawl.
"Foundations" follows returning to the momentum of the beginning of the first song. The harmonized guitar melodies remind me of Thin Lizzy, but are in a slow, trudging context. Again, halfway through, the song changes into a churning, heavy spiral of chugging guitars. Two-thirds in, the song drops to a tiny whispering guitar melody and then the band comes back in with a swirling heaviness for the close.
"Watcher In The Dark" begins with a lone, dark guitar line. A second guitar joins with a melody over the original line before the band crashes in. This song is the heaviest and dirgiest on the album. The high guitar melodies over the chorus sound celestial compared to the heavy maelstrom below.
"The Ghost I Used To Be" is the song I bought the album for. It has an intro that drops to some delicate guitars and drones. The sludgy riff that comes in is rocking. The vocals are really good on this track as well. The middle third picks up the pace a bit and is more driving before returning to the intro. Two-thirds in, the band's thunder softens as the vocals take the spotlight. It drops further to a whispering, lone guitar and takes its time building up again for the victorious ending.
"Ashes" is beautiful and atypical of the other songs on this album. "Ashes" is a like a ghost. There is no doom or sludge here - just emotional power. I think any listener of any music would enjoy this track.
The opening of "Vanished" is uncomfortable to me. It's a like "Black Sabbath" turned inside out. I start liking it better about halfway through and I like the reverse step-down riff.
The clean vocals make Pallbearer stick out from other doom bands I have listened to. I recommend "The Ghost I Used To Be" as a good example of their style and I also recommend "Ashes" to everyone.
Keep listening and thank you for reading this.
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