Pallbearer (band)

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Pallbearer
Pallbearer.jpg
Pallbearer performing in 2015
Background information
Origin Little Rock, Arkansas, U.S.
Genres Doom metal
Years active2008–present
Labels Profound Lore, Nuclear Blast
Members
  • Brett Campbell
  • Devin Holt
  • Joseph D. Rowland
  • Mark Lierly
Past members
  • David Dobbs
  • Zach Stine
  • Chuck Schaaf
Website pallbearerdoom.com

Pallbearer is an American doom metal band from Little Rock, Arkansas, formed in 2008. While intitally rooted in a fairly traditional sound at their beginning, their music is noted for expanding into progressive rock and alternative rock territories as their career has continued.

Contents

History

Pallbearer was formed in 2008 in Little Rock, Arkansas by Brett Campbell and Joseph D. Rowland. The two met as students at the University of Central Arkansas and were previously in an experimental project, called SPORTS. After adding Devin Holt on second guitar and drummer David Dobbs, who was shortly thereafter replaced by Zach Stine, Pallbearer recorded and self-released a three-song demo in 2010. The group was signed by Profound Lore Records in 2011. Pallbearer's first full length Sorrow and Extinction was released in 2012, earning immediate critical success. Sorrow and Extinction was awarded Best New Music status by Pitchfork [1] and was cited amongst the best albums of the year by Spin and NPR . [2] [3]

The line up was solidified by the addition of Mark Lierly (drums) after the recording of the debut LP. Pallbearer's 2014 album, Foundations of Burden was recorded and produced by Billy Anderson at Type Foundry Studio in Portland, Oregon. The album was awarded Best New Music status by Pitchfork. [4] The album topped Decibel magazine's Album of the Year list.

In the summer of 2016, the band returned to Little Rock to record their third full-length, Heartless , at Fellowship Hall Sound studios. The mix was done by Joe Barresi. The official video for the opening track, "I Saw the End," was released in March 2017, along with the album. Heartless debuted at #187 on the Billboard Top 200 Album chart in the U.S. and #42 on the Billboard Top Current Albums chart. It ranks on Stereogum's 50 Best Albums of 2017 So Far. [5] Heartless marked the band moving away from their traditional metal and doom roots, with the album demonstrating grunge, classic rock, and prog influences such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Camel, Pink Floyd, Kansas, and Brian Eno. PopMatters, in reviewing the album, wrote "Pallbearer reaches universality previously hit by artists like the Beatles on Abbey Road or Pink Floyd at their most explorative." [6]

In October 2017, the band was featured in The New York Times Magazine in an essay by cultural critic David Rees. [7] Acknowledging the band's expanding appeal and sonic horizons, Rees described Pallbearer as "one of the most resonant emotional campaigns in American rock music." They were awarded the 2017 Metal Hammer Golden God award for Best Underground Band. Thrillist also named Pallbearer the best band from Arkansas in their Best Bands From Every State rankings. [8] Their fourth album, Forgotten Days , was released in October 2020 and was described by Consequence of Sound as "Perhaps the best doom metal album of 2020". [9]

On 20 March 2024, the band released a new song titled "Where the Light Fades" and announced their fifth album, Mind Burns Alive , which was released on 17 May with high acclaim from music critics. [10]

Band members

Pallbearer performing in 2017 Pallbearer @ Roadburn Festival 2017 08.jpg
Pallbearer performing in 2017

Current

Former

Timeline

Pallbearer (band)

Discography

Studio albums

EPs

Singles

Related Research Articles

Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres. Both the music and the lyrics are intended to evoke a sense of despair, dread, and impending doom. The genre is strongly influenced by the early work of Black Sabbath, who formed a prototype for doom metal. During the first half of the 1980s, a number of bands such as Witchfinder General and Pagan Altar from England, American bands Pentagram, Saint Vitus, the Obsessed, Trouble, and Cirith Ungol, and Swedish band Candlemass defined doom metal as a distinct genre. Pentagram, Saint Vitus, Trouble and Candlemass have been referred to as "the Big Four of Doom Metal".

Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual transgression".

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Mind Burns Alive is the fifth studio album by the American doom metal band Pallbearer, released on May 17, 2024, through Nuclear Blast. The record was produced by the band and primarily recorded by Zach Reeves and Jason Weinheimer at Fellowship Hall Sound in Little Rock, AR, with additional recording by Joseph D. Rowland at the band's newly constructed studio Idlewild Audio, as well as by Devin Holt and Brett Campbell in their respective home studios.

References

  1. "Pallbearer". Pitchfork. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  2. "NPR Music's 50 Favorite Albums Of 2012". NPR.org. 22 December 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  3. "Pallbearer – Sorrow and Extinction (Profound Lore) – SPIN's 20 Best Metal Albums of 2012". SPIN. 12 December 2012. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  4. "Pallbearer". Pitchfork. Retrieved 21 September 2014.
  5. "Best Albums Of 2017 So Far List". Stereogum.com. 6 June 2017. Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  6. PopMatters, Pallbearer Heartless Album Review, Mar. 22, 2017
  7. Rees, David (19 October 2017). "Letter of Recommendation: Pallbearer". The New York Times . Retrieved 20 December 2017.
  8. Schneck, Dan Jackson, Anthony (18 October 2017). "The Best Band From Every State". Thrillist.com. Retrieved 20 December 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  9. "Pallbearer forge ahead with emotionally charged doom on Forgotten Days: Review". Consequence of Sound. 2020-10-23. Retrieved 2020-10-28.
  10. Greg Kennelty (March 20, 2024). "PALLBEARER Announces New Album, Unveils Tour With RWAKE, REZN, INTER ARMA & THE KEENING". Metal Injection. Retrieved March 20, 2024.