There's enough hype around Pallbearer that surely some expect them to do for doom metal what Deafheaven did for black metal last year with Sunbather. With their most recent output, both acts have opened themselves up to wider audiences, but in Pallbearer's case, they have had to deal with far greater pressure. It's coming up on two-and-a-half years since the band unleashed their earth-shattering debut album, Sorrow and Extinction, upon a mostly-unsuspecting world, and everything changed. The swell of support that's sprung up around them since then has been nothing short of staggering, so much so that I knew of the existence of Foundations of Burden almost immediately it was announced. I've only really investigated doom and its related genres since rejoining the Echoes and Dust team late last year, but damn, have I heard a lot about Pallbearer.
Sorrow and Extinction was a key part of my introduction to the genre at the start of the year. I was going through things, feeling overwhelmed, becoming increasingly depressed and more in need of catharsis as the weeks went on. I needed music that would consume me; music I could focus on, or wallow in, or take heart from when needed. It seems odd that I found such solace in music that moved so slowly, lumbering along and offering little respite in its crushing heaviness, but the music that the Arkansas quartet made was almost therapeutic to me. I was really drawn to the melodies, often flowing and ornate, and the atmosphere they created. Sure, the low-end was there; the speaker-rattling, muscular guitars and glacial movement of the drums, likewise, but what was most important to me then was that I could throw it on and think about nothing else for 45 minutes or so.
This, to me, is what great music should do. It should overpower you, and you should give the whole of yourself to it while it's there. Foundations of Burden is almost an hour in length. In a similar way to its predecessor, it asks everything of you and gives little in return. There are few, if any, easy hooks, and the fact that 4 of its 6 songs top the 10-minute mark should tell you that its creators don't do things by halves. There's an almost symphonic feel to these songs; even the shortest track 'Ashes', which barely breaches 3 minutes in length, serving as a crucial breather, has been ornately arranged; to say nothing of opener 'Worlds Apart', whose scorching lead guitar and full-on vocal delivery (both courtesy of Brett Campbell) both highlight the more refined approach Pallbearer have taken on their second album. Their sound is fuller, and credit should partially go to Billy Anderson, whose stellar production job means that while, for example, 'Foundations' threatens to submerge the listener beneath the unrelenting waves of sludgy melody and musical ambition, not one element of its monolithic sound is rendered a casualty in the process.
Anderson's worked with stoner metal titans Sleep and Weedeater, so he knows a thing or two about getting the best out of slow-moving grooves, and his work with Pallbearer has yielded a sound that's warmer than what's come before. One particularly strengthened part of their sound is Mark Lierly's drums; the clear and punchy tone of his snare drum, in particular, allows him to be just as hard-hitting as his bandmates, delivering standout performances on the combined 21-minute run of 'Watcher In The Dark' and 'The Ghost I Used To Be', navigating the labyrinthine song structures with ease. The latter track includes a thrilling change of pace around the three-and-a-half-minute mark, shifting into double-time all of a sudden to inject a spurt of energy into proceedings, made all the more arresting by its fleeting appearance.
The album's full of musical twists and turns, enough to hold the listener's attention even though the album rarely deviates from the funereal pace set by 'Worlds Apart' - by the time 'Vanished' begins to slowly fade, its breathtaking 12 minutes having provided a fitting ending an album that takes its audience on a revelatory journey, there's both a sense of relief that the near-relentless record is at its close, and a desire to go through the whole thing again. Foundations of Burden is unforgiving and heavy going, but it's not music that reveals all of itself on one listen, two, or even five - you have to devote yourself to it many times over before you get anything in return, and those who persevere will be rewarded with an undeniably brilliant experience. Believe the hype: Pallbearer have once again created something to be cherished.
