Heartless

Awesome. It's a word that has pretty much worn out it's definition. We all say it in relation to something going on in our lives whether it's the rising sun or the rolling amazement of thunderclouds. But what exactly is the definition of awesome? According to the dictionary it means "causing or inducing awe; inspiring an overwhelming feeling of reverence, admiration, or fear." Much deeper than what we use in our everyday language. To me, those are most of the feelings I felt as soon as I began listening to this album. Heartless is the third LP by Arkansas doom lords Pallbearer and on this release they have pulled out ALL of the stops. After the world silencing debut of Sorrow and Extinction and the elegiac followup Foundations of Burden, Pallbearer once again had colossal expectations to live up to. Even as a die hard Pallbearer fan, I personally felt that there was no chance on earth that Brett, Joe, Devin and Mark could top two perfect albums such as these. The moment that the digital version was available, I quickly hit purchase and began my journey. After the nearly 59 minutes of music, I was almost moved completely to tears. Why? How? Why did this record move me that much? How could such a heavy record leave me utterly breathless? At that moment it clicked. Pallbearer are not your average heavy metal band. They are a group whose music touches your very soul.

I Saw the End begins the maelstrom. With possibly the most hypnotic opening to a doom record, the band then slam your face with a riff forged in the utter nothingness of a black hole. Brett and Devin play off each other as if telepathy is at play somehow. Joe and Mark anchor the groove machine that keeps this thing from flying off into the ether. Brett's singing has continually increased in confidence since their debut and this track is a masterful demonstration of that maturity. But what is different from this song compared to songs on Foundations and Sorrow, is that it launches into these amazing prog rock nuanced riff structures that lull then crush you to pulp. Easily one of the best songs that Pallbearer have ever written.

Thorns is no different. Except for the small bit of info that would scare most doom metal junkies. This track is fast as hell for Pallbearer. You can definitely tell they'd been listening to Metallica and Voivod during the writing process. It made me think of what would happen if James Hetfield and Roger Waters formed a doom band. It's dark and full of chugging riffs, but has enough atmosphere to support life on a small planet. The track has an overcast aura but in an almost contradictory way, it fills your heart with utter triumph. Strange? Not for Pallbearer. For other groups, that's a nearly impossible feat to achieve. For them, it's just another Tuesday.

As you listen to tracks like these and the following two like Lie of Survival and Dancing in Madness, you begin to ask some very serious questions. These may include and are not limited to: "How in the world can a band be so heavy but so tender? Where did they come up with that riff or drum fill? Are these guys even human? Is there some sort of celestial force at work?" Personally I believe wholeheartedly in the latter question. These men were inspired by something to write and record what this album became.

This album also begins to show the group's increasing ability to include prog rock song structures into their hymns of doom. You hear Pink Floyd in Thorns, Santana and King Crimson in Dancing in Madness and Yes in Lie of Survival. How they can incorporate these influences is a mystery to us but all a part of Pallbearer's magical musical spell. To conjure songs like these with influences like that is truly a gutsy move. But leave it to Pallbearer to continue to shatter expectations and minds as well.

Enter Cruel Road. In my opinion, this is one of the GREATEST songs I have EVER heard in my life. With an opening that somewhat sounds like Journey on acid, the band hit the gas and don't let up. It's as if Dennis DeYoung of Styx fronted Kylesa. The riff. Brett's vocal acrobatics. Joe and Devin's gang vocals. The screaming psychedelic sonic boom of the solo. The ending chug and shouted mantra of Brett, Joe and Devin. It's a truly incredible thing to behold. And if the hair on your body doesn't stand on end during the final lines of the song, you clearly have no soul.

But even after that track and the title track have completely blown you away, nothing in your life has prepared you for A Plea for Understanding. If the album closed with Heartless, this still would have been an amazing record. But A Plea for Understanding is what takes this album from a crappy garage recorded demo to being in the pantheon of albums like Master of Reality, The Monad of Creation, Forest of Equilibrium, Turn Loose the Swans, Physical Graffiti, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Hunted, Animals, The Wall, Tales of Topographic Oceans, Tarkus, Crack the Skye, Blue Record, Superunknown, In the Court of the Crimson King, 10,000 Days and Through Silver in Blood just to name a few. If this was their third and final album, this track would be their magnum opus. Just when I thought that the only Pallbearer song that would make me cry was Given to the Grave, this song makes it's presence known like the man-mountain on the cover. Sad, reflective, heavenly, cosmic, triumphant, even absolutely freaking brilliant are not enough to describe this song. In some alternate universe, this is the song that brings people and nations to reconciliation. It's what a depressed and lonely individual has always wanted to to tell their loved ones. The final lines of the song are utterly heart wrenching and will leave you in stunned silence when it ends. How can anyone not lose it over the lines:

Behind the eyes lies a truth
So deeply concealed
Somewhere inside is a place
Where the weary rest and heal
Anger, fear, and regret keep the darkness at hand
But these feelings are real
All I ask, won't you please understand.

Spellbinding is the only word I can think of when I hear this song end. I would be comfortable with this being the last song I hear before I leave this world. It's THAT moving.

Heartless has shown what Pallbearer are capable of when they crack open their rib cages and bear it all to the world. This is the album that many in the future will look back at and say "I remember when I heard this record." It will bring many memories of days gone by that have been overcome because four men from Arkansas knew that making music was their calling. It is an album that will always remind us that "dreams may try to grow in the dark, but no fire can burn without the setting of a spark." This is the album that sets the spark to the blazing fire within you. Remember what you felt in this music and let it touch your heart forever. Then you can you truly say that this album was awesome in every sense of the word.