- Country: USA
- Style: Doom metal
- Label: Profound Lore Records / Nuclear Blast
- Release date: 24 March 2017
Doom bands rarely sound this willing to open the windows. Heartless still has the weight Pallbearer built their name on, but the songs breathe more, the harmonies are lusher, and there’s a seventies prog and classic rock warmth running through the whole thing that suits them very well.
“I Saw the End” is a near-perfect opener, all twin-guitar melody and high, yearning vocals, while “Thorns” is the closest they’ve come to a rock song, punchy and almost catchy. The longer pieces are where the record really lives. “Dancing in Madness” unfolds slowly from a spacey, dreamlike start into a crushing second half, and “A Plea for Understanding” closes things with a long, mournful build that pays off beautifully.
Self-produced in Little Rock and mixed by Joe Barresi, it sounds big and clear without losing the grit. If there’s a complaint, it’s that “Cruel Road” feels a little like the band treading water between the bigger moments. Otherwise this is Pallbearer at their most confident.
Best tracks:
I Saw the End
Thorns
Dancing in Madness
A Plea for Understanding
Author’s rating: 8.4/10
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