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‘Heartless’ is the third album from the guys from Little Rock, Arkansas, Pallbearer taking three years to deliver the follow up to 2014’s ‘Foundations Of Burden’. Three years is a long time in the fickle business of music but thankfully the wait has been well worth it. ‘Heartless’ is an album of mixed contrasts; crushing doom mixed with the more melodic prog stylings of the band. It’s lengthy, but if you’re familiar with the previous album and the debut, ‘Sorrow And Extinction’, then you will know what to expect. Seven tracks spread out over nearly an hours worth of ambitious, heavy music. Stick on the cans, lie back and let it wash over you. Resistance is futile.Opener, ‘I Saw The End’, begins with a light guitar intro that signals the powerful drums and beefy riffs to come in. They set the scene for a full minute before vocalist Brett Campbell is first heard, his slow burning vocals echo Geoff Tate, but without the high pitched vocal gymnastics that made Tate the king of prog metal. The twin guitars from Campbell and Devin Holt alternate between crushing riffs and tasty, light melodies. As the melodies fade out, the slabs of riffs come back on ‘Thorns’, and although the doom aspect of Pallbearer comes to the forefront, the melodies are never far behind. The vocals are quite far down in the mix but never lost. It’s the guitars that are pushed way up, and they really fly in places. The way that the soaring solo mid song changes to soft picking, before the wall of riffs come back in is incredible. The vocals are quite trippy and float around the listener’s head. A very cool vibe on this one. Fans of Pallbearer will know that they like to stretch out musically. If the song needs to run twelve minutes, so be it. ‘Dancing In Madness’ just about tips the twelve minute mark. Epic… masterpiece… and any other descriptive clichés one can think of. The soft, shuffling drum beat intro gives the impression that the song is going down a Pink Floyd-inspired path, especially when the dreamy lead guitar breaks in. However, after three blissful minutes, the doom riffs come, and the opus leans to the stoner side. Half way through, the vocals get harsher and the riffs heavier, before settling on a gorgeous acoustic guitar interlude. Here come the riffs again though, more direction changes in twelve minutes than an entire Biffy Clyro anthology! Album closer, ‘A Plea For Understanding’ is even longer. Melancholic, with an incredible vocal performance from Campbell, the latter half of the track is very downbeat, but at the same time mesmerizing. Chew on that one! ‘Heartless’ is an expansive and ambitious album… part doom, part stoner, and part prog metal. The sum of all parts though is that it is a staggering album. Listen to it straight through in one sitting, and you’ll get way more from it than you would with snippets here and there. Available now through Nuclear Blast Records Review: Dave Stott]]>
