Pallbearer - Sorrow and Extinction
When I first heard Brett Campbell sing, it was on “Silent and Completely Overcome” from Loss’s masterfully bleak Despond LP last year. His passionately sorrowful croon took the song to another level, wearing out the Repeat One function on my stereo in the process. Who is this fallen angel of Doom? Where did he come from? Real music tends to inspire research, and a few weeks later I scored a copy of Pallbearer’s 2010 Demo. Three flawless Doom hymns in the traditional vein, that is to say they owe more to Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus than Turn Loose the Swans or Gothic. Quite frankly the best Doom demo since Avernus’s legendary Sadness. It’s no surprise that a deal with Profound Lore quickly ensued and the end result is the full-length debut I now hold in my trembling hands like Gollum. What can I say, it’s a flawless record. It’s essentially the demo, but more of it, with the rough edges polished. Actually “rough edges polished” is a bit of an understatement. These guitars sound like passenger aircraft flying 20 feet above your house. I think Campbell and Devin Holt might be using piano wire instead of guitar strings, with adamantium picks. These riffs are fucking monsters and the suffocating heaviness combined with the record’s morbidly depressive vibe provides an unending sea of eargasms. But Campbell’s voice is the real treasure. It’s equal parts Patrick Walker and a young Ozzy Osbourne, yet with more range and hold than either of them. His soulful, haunting pitch is the perfect vessel for lyrics so dismal and void of hope that they simply had to have been inspired by my “life.” The complete package is pure, traditional Doom euphoria. The slow-motion atmosphere Pallbearer creates is a sonic paradise for the heavy-hearted. This is the band Cathedral wish they could have been. If I had one complaint it’s that at 49 minutes, I wish it lasted 31 minutes longer. They could’ve at the very least included “Gloomy Sunday,” the only song from the demo not re-recorded for the album. But that isn’t so much a complaint as it is extended praise. This band can do no wrong in my eyes. You must own this record. You must worship this record. If by some white sorcery you aren’t immediately hooked, give it time… you will be. Flawless demo, flawless debut… that’s an awfully high bar set for a career. A career I hope is long and prosperous.
“No more time, no more breath
No more hope, no more dawn
Only void…”
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