Father John Misty - Pure Comedy

Father John Misty, aka Josh Tillman, since breaking away from Fleet Foxes has become one of Folk's biggest superstars.  Josh's dry sense of humor and bleak outlook on life has made him stand out from the rest of the Indie Folk world ever since his debut under the FJM moniker.  In 2012, he released "Fear Fun".  It was a solid electric folk album, but its real strength was how FILLED with personality it was.  It was also miles better than Tillman's releases under his real name.  Plus, every time I hear that opening riff of "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings", I get chills.  Now to be honest, listening to "Fear Fun" back in the day, I wasn't 100% sold.  I liked it and all, but I didn't see Father John Misty doing anything to memorable in the future.  However, clearly I was wrong.  In  2015, he released the critically adored and fan loved "I Love You, Honeybear".  It was sweet, it was beautiful, all while sticking with Misty's usual bitter, sarcastic attitude.  It was a really unique experience, and since it's become one of my favorite folk albums ever.  However, since then, FJM has gotten bigger and bigger.  When it came to recording this new album, he revealed there were no love songs on it, which shocked me.  But hearing these new singles and this radical new direction, I'm not completely disappointed.

(Here's a classic for y'all)

This album starts off with its title track, “Pure Comedy”.   Misty’s use of little details have always been so great, so this late night tv show intro, while it’s brief, works really nicely.  As far as vocals go, man Misty’s voice just keeps getting warmer and more comfortable sounding than ever.  Lyrically though, it really doesn’t take too long to realize we’re seriously dealing with a new animal completely from Father John Misty.  Quickly, he dives headfirst into this very bleak look at the current state of mankind.  Father John Misty brings in every strange little detail from Iron Deficiency to Higher Power’s to illustrate the shape of the world we live in, and of course his usual biting sense of humor and sarcasm aren’t far behind.  It has a lot in common actually with the title track from “I Love You Honeybear”, and it just as masterfully brings in the topics and moods of this album.  This track, and the many tracks that follow, is certainly word, and it’s far from “Comedy” (but if it was a comedy, it would probably be Night Court of NewsRadio).  I personally LOVE this intro, no it’s not exactly a fun track to listen to, but it’s an interesting shift of style for Father John Misty.  Plus, I love all of the huge orchestrations behind him.  Of course we’re dealing here with a whole lot of political undertones, but seriously who isn’t using political undertones these days.  At the very least though his style makes it a little bit different.  My only real issue with this, and I know this is going to be an issue a lot of people will have, is just how many listens this is going to take to really digest.  This isn’t nearly as inviting as his past work.  Then we have the last line here, “I hate to say it, but each other is all we’ve got”, which may sum up this entire album and Father John Mist’s entire philosophy.  It’s powerful stuff.  Up next is the much easier to swallow “Total Entertainment Forever”.  Right off the bat we’re dealing with a track that you can enjoy right off the first listen.  It’s a more upbeat tune, with a sound much more remniscient of his older work.  I love the fierceness of this, not to say it’s heavy, but it certainly has such a great attitude to this jam that I love so much.  Not to mention, that opening line about having sex every night with Taylor Swift virtually though an oculus rift is pretty damn memorable.  Father John Misty since he’s started using that moniker has always had so much to say, and here is no different.   Here, he sounds almost a little paranoid of machines and technology, saying it feels like someone is living his life for him.  It also continues to have this seriously grand feel to it within these HUGE instrumentals that surround him.  This to an extent, is going to be a difficult listen for some, as it’s very wordy and that’s not going to change any time soon.  Up next it “Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution”.  Now let me just say, there’s a TON of Piano Rock on this album, but thankfully since this is just such a wordy album it feels right at home.  Once again, we’re dealing with heavy political undertones, but if you’re the slightest fan of Father John Misty, that’s not going to be too shocking for you.   There’s also a very theatrical edge to a lot of tunes here, mostly due to the heavy use of orchestral arrangements.  Now, while I stated that a lot of these tunes, including “Things It Would Have Been Helpful to Know Before the Revolution” are going to take some real sitting with to completely understand, these are very deeply culturally important tracks.  Father John Misty brings things up that a lot of us are afraid to even breach, and he delivers these messages in a seriously passionate way, classy too.  These tracks are also going to take a few pauses here and there just for how much Father John Misty crams into these tracks, and that’s not a bad thing.  But it’s something to sit with, and boy is it rewarding.  “Ballad Of The Dying Man”, and in just about every way, this sounds like a tune directly off of “I Love You Honeybear”.  Once again, we see him really concentrating on this Piano Rock vibe, but it really helps you hone in on Father John Misty’s performance.  Lyrically, here he takes us deep into the thoughts of a man on his death bed (as you may have guessed from the title).  Misty certainly does is it with his own unique lair though, as if I was dying I really don’t think I’d be thinking about hipsters and feminists.  However, Misty sounds so passionate on this one.  As much of a bitter, sarcastic man as he’s always been, he seriously sings with much more feeling than you could ever imagine.  Overall he’s become such a personality that it’s overwhelming.  But it’s wonderful to hear.   Not to mention, that last line here may be one of Misty's finest, as he states  "Eventually the dying man takes his final breath, but first check his news feed to see what he's 'bout to miss.  It occurs to him a little late in the game, we leave as clueless as we came”.  “Birdie” however is the first track here that really doesn’t hit me too hard.  I actually think Father John Misty’s performance on this one is really fantastic and just as heartfelt.  But the production on this one is kinda weird and messy, kinda like “True Affection” on the last album.  With “Birdie’ I’m really not too sure about what Father John Misty was really going for.  I feel like the sort of Radiohead “Kid A” production really doesn’t fit well stylistically.  There are just enough sweet moments here and there to make this one passable, but overall this one barely sticks with me.  But that honestly brings me to my first issue here.  This album is great, but it’s going to take a LOT of sitting, pondering, and 100% to truly enjoy this.

Up next is the 13 minute monolithic folk epic that is “Leaving LA”.  This starts off as one of the most stripped back tracks we’ve heard here so far, and to be honest it really makes you focus on Misty more than usual.  I mean, with a run time of over 13 minutes you can already realize that this one is going to get a little rambly.  However, while it does, one thing it doesn’t get is boring.  It actually makes for some of Father John Misty’s most interesting statements here as well his most puzzling.  Instrumentally, it’s certainly pleasing and very sweet, and it gets even more stunning as the track rolls on and on.  “Leaving LA” overall, is really good.  I dunno if it 100# justifies its length completely, but this really brings up what I’ve already stated about this entire album.  “Pure Comedy” is fantastic, but it’s not nearly as instantly gratifying as some of Father John Misty’s early work.  So if this is your first rodeo with him, this is going to give you mixed results.  But, if you’re familiar with him and his character, this is going to be all gravy for you ladies and gentlemen.    “A Bigger Paper Bag” right off the bat sounds like a much more structured, straight up folk rock song.  I just can’t seem to get over just how much I love these backing instrumentations.  Father John Misty has always had such a way with words, and the opening lines on this one are some of his most shining here.  His lyrics are often puzzling and often demand for you to literally be reading the lyrics while listening.  But it’s certainly worth it, because his performance here is just as stunning and beautiful and as mysterious as the album cover here.  And just like the album cover, most of the time things certainly SOUND ok, but when you dive deeper boy is it ever a facade.   Up next is one of my favorite tracks here, “When the God of Love Returns There’ll Be Hell to Pay”.  These piano ballads continue to seriously strike me so hard.  This album is obviously one very long look at the human race.  It’s not usually a very happy journey, as here Father John Misty goes deep into the thought of the God Of Love returning to earth to say "Jesus you didn't leave a whole lot for me, If this isn't hell already, then tell me what the hell is”, only for us humans to respond with “It’s just human nature”.   Also throughout this album, Father John Misty goes back and forth between judging humans as well as playing the roll of defendant as well, trying to come up with some answers for us, usually in his own sarcastic way.  It’s a long journey with him on this album, but if you’re familiar with him and his nature, you’ll love all of this.  “Smoochie” is up next, and honestly, this is a down point for me here.  This one doesn’t even sound like Father John Misty, hell it kinda sounds like a crappy Shins song.  It’s just a little too bouncy and dreaming for my liking.  And it’s a shame because lyrically this one is completely about Father John Misty, with is something we really haven’t heard much of yet.  But this one is just so off from the rest of the album.  There isn’t a memorable hook in sight, and more than anything this just comes off as a crappy b-side from “I Love You Honeybear”.  There are certainly some sweet moments here and there which certainly have been missing from the album, but everything else about “Smoochie” is out of place in the worst way.  But Father John Misty bounces back very quickly with his hugest statement yet, on “Two Wildly Different Perspectives”.  Now, as far as a true statement that’s going to last from this album, this is really the big one.  Instrumentally, this is stripped back and simple, but lyrically this dives deep into the radically different way people look at situations.  Specifically on this one, Father John Misty looks at the the opposing sides of political situations and movements.  This honestly is just a track to seriously make you take a step back and think about the world we live in, and what we’re doing to it by constantly going at war with each other.  There are some awesome Jazzy instrumentals to back this one u as well, and to be honest overall this one just comes off so straightforward and simple to comprehend.  It’s fantastic in every way.

“The Memo” is up next, and this one i just a straight up, nothing fancy folk jam.  filled with more fantastic one liners bleeding with sarcasm.  But this one isn’t nearly as ear catching or as interesting as some of the other tracks here.  Lyrically, yea this is just as sharp and it certainly sticks with the themes of everything else that’s been going on.  Instrumentally though, things do pick up quickly, and I’m glad they did, it certainly makes things much easier to swallow.  Lyrically though, this is certainly getting a whole lot harder to follow.  I’m not sure which side of the Father John Misty spectrum I’m more of a fan of, but this is from from bad now that things have picked up instrumentally.  Plus, some of the weirder moments towards the end of this one are actually really bizarre, but they work so well with the feel of the album.  So yea, I’m certainly down with it.  My only issue still remains that you seriously need to sit with this album from start to finish with a stiff drink or a few cups of coffee.  As the album goes on however, I’m really never too sure what I’m going to hear next.  Which is why “So I’m Growing Old on Magic Mountain” standing at a whopping 9 minutes is just so fantastic.  Here, Father John Misty goes back to his “I Love You Honeybear” days by illustrating himself as this sort of of rock star party boy.  But this is much more than that, no this seems like a mission statement for this entire album.  This whole thought of a “Magic Mountain” where no one gets old and everybody parties works with every theme on this album practically. This one, while it’s long and just as wordy as other tracks, goes deep into vices and the things people do to forget what’s really going on in the world.  And not once does it get boring.  When you look at this album as a whole, this was a really hard album to make work for Father John Misty.  When you look at the subject matter of this entire album, and the length of it, you have to realize just how easily this could have been bloated and quite frankly full of itself.  Which leads us to our finale, the very stripped back “In Twenty Years or So”.    While I haven’t really been bored throughout this album, I do have to say “Pure Album” didn’t HAVE to be so long.  This is a nice finale though, it certainly fits a whole lot of the rest of the album’s themes.  Here, Father John Misty is going off on his usual ramblings, but my goodness are these instrumentals ever heavenly, dare I say hopeful.   But then, just in time for me to say that this sounds hopeful, Misty returns from this instrumental passage to more or less walk us through the apocalypse.  But it turns out really beautifully to be honest, mostly because the focus really isn’t on Misty here, but these orchestrations.  Well done old friend.  

Rating : 8.4/10

Give A Listen To: “Pure Comedy”, “Total Entertainment Forever”, "A Bigger Paper Bag", "When the God of Love Returns There'll Be Hell to Pay"

Overall Thoughts:  Let me just start by saying, if this is you're first time sitting down with Father John Misty, I would seriously recommend going back and listening to his first two albums first.  "Pure Comedy" is massive, and far from funny in any right.  No, here, in 13 overwhelmingly beautiful folk songs, Father John Misty breaks down everything twisted about the current state of the human race.  Starting with current political issues, and ending with of course, our demise.  It's wordy, it's bitter, it's sometimes hilarious and sometimes depressing, but it's most of all seriously thought provoking.  Father John Misty since the release of his last album has proven to be the guy willing to bring up cultural points that we wouldn't think twice about, and he brings them all to the table here.  One other thing, if you have an hour and change to spend on an album, listen to this from start to finish, it'll hit you a whole lot harder then taking a song here and a song there for a spin.   

The New Pornographers - "Whiteout Conditions"

Since the early 2000's The New Pornographers have become one of my favorite artists, which is a term I throw around quite a bit, but I can't help it.  Started off as sort of a one time experiment, The New Pornographers over the years have become absolute titans in the power pop world.  With their 2000 debut "Mass Romantic", The New Pornographers combined thunderous indie riffs with catchy and memorable pop hooks.  Being a super-group, you got a ton of flavors from The New Pornographers, from the more artsy delivery of Dan Bejar's vocals, the the triumphant and surprisingly explosive vocals of Neko Case, as as A.C. Newman's usually cool and collected delivery as well.  Right off the bat, there was a little something for everyone here.  "Mass Romantic" was on the short side, but each song in it's own right was so damn memorable.  Needless to say, this one off experiment by these musicians turned into more or less a real thing.  Their next album, "Electric Version" (my favorite New Pornographers album) showed them dealing with some cleaner production, but most importantly seemed less gimmicky.  Like I said, as fantastic as "Mass Romantic" was, I felt like it had too much of a "one off" feel.  "Electric Version" sounded like New Pornographers really putting their heart into making their own sound.  The result is one of of the catchiest indie records you're going to hear ever, period.  On "Twin Cinema", New Pornographers backed up their already massive cult following with critical claim.  While the material here wasn't as catchy, but was wonderfully written and even more so structured.  They sort of ditched their "Power Pop" label here and focused on a more Indie Rock sound, but it ended up working great for them.  But with every great band, there comes that album that fans don't really like to talk about.  For me, That's 2007's "Challengers".  Tracks here like "All The Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth" were FANTASTIC, but overall The New Pornographers seems worn out.  The songwriting wasn't nearly as on point and the energy overall was down.    2010's "Together" however really tuned things around quick for the supergroup.  On this album, The New Pornographers seemed refreshed, and while there wasn't as many exciting tracks, the band doubled down on songwriting and sweet hooks as well as string arrangements.  2013's "Brill Bruisers" was a little different for the Pornographers.  Electronic music had always been something that the Pornographers have toyed with, but not THIS much.  "Brill Bruisers" was a very synth heavy album, but it actually really worked well for them.  The songs were just as catchy and well written, but also seemed a little more hip to the current state of indie.  These new singles, to be frank, are freakin' AWESOME, with The Pornographers sounding triumphant and filled with energy.  Let's talk about the rest of this shall we.

(Let's get in the groove ladies and gentlemen!)

This album starts off with “Play Money”.  Right off the bat, it’s clear that The New Pornographers are going to be sticking very close to the very electronic sound of their last album.  As a matter of fact, this may be the most synthetic sound they’ve worked with, and it really doesn’t come off too bad.  Thankfully however, Neko Case’s vocals bring tons of much needed life into this, and man has her voice aged well.  As far as the feel goes, this is certainly right in the same ball park as some of their older material.  I don’t know if it’s just me, but for me there has always been a very nostalgic, very sophisticated sound to the sound of The New Pornographers.  “Play Money” is smooth though, and to be honest even when Neko breaks out some duel vocals with A.C. Newman it comes off very nicely.  It’s a sweet smart for the album, and more than anything this proves that The New Pornographers are still on top of the power pop world.  My only real issue with this opening is that I wish there was a little more live instrumentation here.  It’s a little cold at times, but it’s still wonderfully up-lifting.  The New Pornographers are just getting started however.  The album’s title track “Whiteout Conditions” is up next, and instantly were dealing with a much bigger sounding atmosphere, and I just get this truly epic pop song feel here.  The synths here come off much more inviting, Blaine Thurier’s influence in The New Pornographers music has just gotten bigger and bigger over the years.  However, this track also has a whole lot more rock influence as well.  “Whiteout Conditions” really took me a few listens to really get into, but man can these guys ever write a hook effortlessly.  I’ve always got this sort of classic rock vibe deep down in the Pornographers music, and it makes me feel so young again listening to their stuff.  So hell yes, this is a brilliant single from one of this generations most important Power Pop bands.  It’s still very chilly sounding, but these verses stick with you so damn much that you forget about that completely.  Now one thing I do have to praise this album for, is just how triumphant it is, and there isn’t a more triumphant moment here than “High Ticket Attractions”.  Newman takes lead vocals here on this one, and to be honest he sounds a whole lot more energetic than he did on “Brill Bruisers”.  This is just so colorful, so absolutely pummeling with happiness and positive energy.  The material so far on this albums has been so solid with an overwhelming sense of unity, that if it continued like this, this could have been a classic.  Obviously the synth and this entire electronic vibe continues to be a HUGE component here, but it really doesn’t come off as cheap or like the band is trying to fit in.  On the contrary, I feel like they actually ushered it into their sound very nicely.  Up next is “This Is The World Of The Theatre”.  Now, one thing we haven’t talked about so far is the absence of Dan Bejar.  This is the first album they’ve done without him, and up to this point it really hasn’t been that much of a factor.  One thing The New Pornographers have done to make up for Dan’s absence is by giving the ladies real room to shine here.  Which honestly, is a HUGE plus, Neko Case and Kathryn Calder are both fantastic singers.  This track is just so peppy and adorable sounding, so much so that this MAY be my favorite Neko Case lead New Pornographers track I’ve heard in ages (especially since her work on the last album was just so underwhelming).  There continues to be a serious old school vibe to this, and very much more of a rock oriented feel as well, it really takes me back to their “Together” days.  Not to mention, The New Pornographers continue to proves that they’re seriously fantastic at writing stunning pop songs, if this hook doesn't stick in your head all day I feel bad for you buddy.  So far, this album’s been all good by me.  

“Darling Shade” is up next, which brings us right back into that much more electronic vibe.  One thing that I’m not really sold on when it comes to some of these more electronic sounding songs, is the drums work.  Sometimes it’s fine, but other times it comes off as a drum machine, and the results aren’t usually good.  As this track rolls on however, it certainly gets better.  By this point in the album though, honestly I’m starting to miss Dan Bejar, a lot.  While the Pornographers have certainly held their own without him, Dan certainly brought something special to the table with his unique voice and songwriting.  However, The New Pornographers continue to sound very unified, and I certainly love some of the group vocals and heavier guitar licks here.  Plus, I still stand by my word that this seriously comes off a little more youthful sounding than Brill Bruisers.  “Second Sleep” however, is this albums first real hiccup.  Right off the bat, this one really rubs me the wrong way.  The glitchy vocals and production do not do the slightest bit of justice to their sound.  Remember earlier when I said that they ushered in the more electronic sounds to their music really nicely?  Well on “Second Sleep”, that’s really not the case at all.  Here, everything sort of comes off cheesy and i just sounds like the Pornographers are seriously trying way too hard to be something they certainly are not.  Newman’s verse really doesn’t help anything either, because this mar be the most boring vocals I’ve heard on a New Pornographers track since some of the lesser tracks on “Challengers”.  Instrumentally, there are certainly some really good moments, the drumming here is actually really solid.  But everything else about “Second Sleep” comes off seriously rushed to the point where I can barely concentrate on it.  “Coliseums” has a lot of the same issues.  You know, at first I really liked this track, I think the vocals here are fantastic and I love the more upbeat feel to everything.  But is it just me, or is the production on this track seriously lacking.  Like, it sounds so tinny and low-fi, but not even in a good way.  Once again, this one comes off really rushed.  Earlier I was getting this feeling that they really took their time with a lot of the material here.  But this track overall, even though the production gets better, doesn’t even come off as a New Pornographers track.  I dunno what it DOES come off as, but this isn’t something I was expecting to hear.  Vocally, this is totally fine.  Even Instrumentally this one works, but their really is just something missing.  Thankfully, The Pornographers do get right back on track with “We’ve Been Here Before”.  This one is armed with a strangely elegant intro, and to be honest these are some of the strongest vocals I’ve heard in a while all around from the band.  “We’ve Been Here Before” overall is just as HUGE sounding as some of the singles here.  It’s icy and synth heavy but it’s also easily the most beautiful track here.  Personally, I feel like Dan Bejar would have absolutely ruled over this track if he was around, but as far as a late album tune goes, this is really stunning.  I honestly really wasn’t expecting a slower track here to be so powerful and beautiful, and overall this would be a solid direction for the band to go in in the future.  

“Juke” starts the last leg of of this new New Pornographers album off.  Now, while this is much more up front and much more of a straightforward sort of track for The New Pornographers (there’s almost a “Twin Cinema” vibe here), this really doesn’t come off good at all.  The instrumentals are fine, with much more live instrumentations.  But oh my GOD, lyrically and as far as the performances go here, this is easily the most forgettable and quite frankly most annoying track here.  Even the slight moments that the vocals DO come off nicely, it’s made annoying by this repetitive hook.  Not gonna lie guys, this one’s pretty bad.  “Clockwise” however is a complete turn around, being quite possibly the iciest and synth heavy track here.  But this one, works out really nicely.  I can’t stress enough just how well some of these more upbeat tracks have been working out for The Pornographers here.  Tracks like “Clockwise” come off so youthful and energetic, even exciting.  For the most part, overall the band did a really good job making up for Dan Bejar’s absence, but I certainly do still miss him.  But overall, I feel like when The New Pornographers just don’t try to do too much with the electronic element and let them come freely to their sound things end up working up smoothly.  “Avalanche Alley” is our finale here, and honestly it worried me with this slow start.  But it picks up really quickly and nicely however, once again showing off a little more of a straight up indie sound than anything.  It works out really nicely for them though, and “Avalanche Alley” ends up being the most focused sounding track since the earlier tunes here.  Seriously though, where the hell was THIS sound for the entire album.  If they gave me a few more tracks like this, this album would have SERIOUSLY matched up with the bands classic material easily.  But I digress, this is a really fantastic finale, and it actually gets me really excited to hear what The New Pornographers have for us in the future.  

Rating: 7.8/10

Give A Listen To - “High Ticket Attractions”, “This Is The World Of The Theatre”, “Whiteout Conditions”, “Avalanche Alley”

Overall Thoughts:  Now, I'm going to be honest.  When I first heard the first few singles on this album, I thought this was going to go toe to toe with albums like "Mass Romantic" and "Electric Version", I really did.  In the long run, it doesn't really, but it's certainly far from a bad album.  It's actually quite good.  It has more energy and a much more youthful sound than "Brill Bruisers", and some of the singles here are easily some of the best they've put out in years.  However, Dan Bejar is truly missed throughout this album.  His distinct voice and stunning lyrics that brought us so many classic New Pornographers' songs was seriously missed here.   The New Pornographers did bounce back nicely though, giving much more focus to Kathryn Calder and Neko Case, which is always welcome.  Overall, yea I may have expected a little bit more, but this is still a really solid New Pornographers album.  

Mastodon - Emperor Of Sand

Lets me just start this one off by saying, sorry!  I had a few more reviews planned for this week, namely Freddie Gibbs, Pharmakon, Lydia Ainsworth, and that new Chaz Bundick project.  However, I was on vacation and didn't do so well with scheduling once I got back!  Next week is a big week however!  Anyways, lets move on!

Since the early 2000's, metal music to me has mostly centered around Mastodon.  While I usually go for the much grander, heavier Black Metal artist, I've always loved Mastodon's musicianship and creativity that they put into their albums.  In 2002, they steamrolled their way into the metal scene with "Remission".  While this album wasn't their most polished work, it showed their fierce instrumentals and unbelievable visuals to the world.  "Remission" quickly showed us that Mastodon at the end of the day were the brutal sludge metal band the world had been looking for since the downfall of bands like Kyuss. 2004's "Leviathan" was bigger, grander, and even more brilliant.  Mastodon's production levels skyrocketed here, and while they were still making dirty sludgy metal did it ever sound fantastic.  While this had tracks that would go on to define their sound, like "Blood and Thunder" and "Megalodon", there were also new elements of progressive rock as well as other metal genres.  Mastodon were growing by the day.  In 2006, they released my favorite record in their discography, the INCREDIBLE "Blood Mountain".  On this one, Mastodon wrote some of their absolutely heaviest material yet, with explosive, bone crushing tracks like "The Wolf Is You" and "Crystal Skull".  What made this album though was the amount of catchy hooks they used as well on tracks like "Colony of Birchmen", without really sacrificing any heaviness.  The end result was some of their most wonderfully crafted tunes yet.  Up until this point, Mastodon seemed unstoppable.  However, in 2009 they released "Crack The Skye", which honestly I'm not a fan of.  Instrumentally this may actually be their most sound album yet, but as far as the progressive elements go and they incredibly convoluted and ridiculous story line, it was NOT for me.  2011's "The Hunter" was even further away from the classic Mastodon formula.  There were great tracks here like "Stargasm" and "Dry Bone Valley", but much of the rest of the album wasn't nearly as fierce and as conceptual as early Mastodon releases.  This may be unpopular opinion, but I actually dig Mastodon's 2014 album "Once More 'Round The Sun" a little more than "The Hunter".  To an extent, these tracks were certainly much bigger overproduced, but it certainly worked on tracks like "Halloween" and "The Motherload".  Since 2014 though, Mastodon has been pretty quiet.  Troy Sanders had that God awful spin off project Gone Is Gone, but outside of that the boys have been quiet.  Mastodon's new singles have been a wide range of some of their worst material ever, and some of their best stuff since "Leviathan", so lets get into this shall we?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsdIO8RHMTc
(This one takes me back man)

This album starts us off with “Sultan’s Curse”.  This is certainly an interesting intro, and it’s probably the darkest thing we’ve heard from the band in a few albums.  Mastodon sound patient as well, and certainly aren’t trying to blare into anything over produced too fast.  The atmosphere on “Sultan’s Curse” is actually solid, an when that main riff hits it’s actually really not all that bad.  The back and forth performances between Troy Sanders and Brent Hinds actually comes off nicely as well.  To be honest, I think the BIG element here that makes this all work, is this undeniable sense of unity.  I haven’t heard this much of a cohesive Mastodon since “Blood Mountain”.  It continues to be on the lighter side of things, but this really isn’t that bad at all.  The confidence is certainly there in the riffs, especially in Brann Dailor’s vocals which have come so far.  Of course, the instrumentals are super complex and layered, the imagery is over the top, the solos are wild, but honestly I can’t really remember the last time I had so much fun with a Mastodon track.  “Show Yourself” is up next, and this one really took some time for me to appreciate.  I mean once again, this is super easy on the ears when you consider just how vicious Mastodon was for some time.   But if you’re familiar with their recent material, this really isn’t too bad.  They continue here to sound like a unit, and they still sound like they really planned this album out pretty well (Especially more than their last two albums).  Now, I know some people are going to get right into that chorus and pull it apart and call it too catchy.  But to be honest if this is going to be the future for Mastodon, it’s really not THAT bad.  Yes, it’s not as sludgy or as explosive, but it’s far from terrible, and it’s certainly better than some of the deep album cuts on their last few albums.  Up next, we have “Precious Stones”, and from this opening riff I’m not gonna lie: I feel like this is the epitome of Mastodon trying way too hard.  Brent Hind’s vocals here, which I usually feel like are sort of a secret weapon of Mastodon’s music, come off a little awkward here.  Plus, the chorus chorus here isn’t nearly as interesting or as catchy as the earlier ones here.  “Precious Stones” just reminds me of way too many tracks on “The Hunter”, specifically the tracks that were more or less nothing but Mastodon trying to be heavy desperately.  The solos here don’t have nearly as much heart as some of the earlier ones here, and overall this one really doesn’t do anything for me.  “Steambreather” on the other hand, actually sounds grimy and dirty sounding.  While the lack of heaviness is still sort of an issue with me, “Strambreather” actually comes off really interesting.  Brann’s vocals over the years have gotten so incredibly less awkward that it’s not even funny.  This one has a really great pacing to everything, and let me tell you, when Mastodon really pace themselves, the results are pretty fantastic.  Then we have the chorus, which is easily the most passionate and catchy chorus we’ve heard so far here, and probably one of their most catchy in years.  Every instrumental on “Steambreather” has a very huge, lurking vibe to it, to the point where I’m never really sure whats going to happen next.  Also, the imagery in the lyrics as well have been an absolute home run.  Tracks like this give me nothing but hope for Mastodon in the future.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcmDNolIpSI

“Roots Remain” is up next, and right off the bat is much spacier sounding.  All I have to say is, if I have to sit through ANOTHER progressive Metal jam by Mastodon, I’m not going to be very happy.  While this is certainly heavy, this track also comes off as a little sloppy.  Worst of all however is that chorus.  Brann’s chorus here might just be the most corny, overblown, and laughably cheesy hook I’ve heard from Mastodon in years.  And while I get it, metal is supposed to be a little cheesy and over-the-top, this ain’t for me.  I feel like “Roots Remain” is Mastodon trying way too hard to be edgy.  It’s a real shame honestly, because some of these instrumentals are seriously wild as hell and are actually seriously heavy.  But all of these different movements and passages and corny references are going to continue to water them down.  And strangely enough, if you dissect this all, you’ll realize this to an extent is the Mastodon formula that got them sorts of praise years ago.  But it worked for them because of how vicious they were. “Word To The Wise” is up next, and once again, instrumentally this is seriously explosive.  But as far as vocals go, once again this one really doesn’t click with me at all.  I wouldn’t say there’s anything really awful about this one, but “Word To The Wise” sounds like it was kinda thrown together at the last minute.  But once again I’m seriously conflicted by this, because instrumentally there are some ridiculous moments here.  The solo’s and Brann’s drum performance here are some of the best I’ve heard yet, and if I was more into these vocals this would have been a serious knock-out.  Thankfully though, Mastodon get it right on “Ancient Kingdom”.  This intro every time I hear it gives me the absolute chills.  This track is just the right blend of grand and triumphant sounding, a sound that I feel like Mastodon could work so well with.  While the vocals here are still a little over the top, hell, so is everything else here, so it works great.  Little details like the bell chiming in the back of this absolutely gigantic hook work so well for Mastodon.  It really comes down to just finding a balance with Mastodon honestly. The instrumentals are certainly all here, and they can still write brilliant tracks when they focus, even vocally when they focus they can still sound fantastic.  The solos here are fantastic, and overall “Ancient Kingdom” makes me just so damn happy, it’s easily the most epic track here.  When it comes to “Clandestiny”, instrumentally, I continue to be really pleased with how this is is all coming off.  Troy Sanders here sounds OK.  But while they’re isn't anything truly horribly bad about this track, there really isn’t anything that jaw dropping either.  This just comes off sounding like a whole lot of older Mastodon tracks that were fantastic then, just so much more watered down.  I actually seriously love the very grand atmosphere on display here, as well as some of the percussion add-ins that actually don’t come off cheesy at all.  Even the synths, which is something I was dreading the arrival of so freakin much, don’t really end up coming off OK.  “Clandestiny” like a great chunk of the album, really isn’t anything too memorable, but isn’t nearly as bad as the direction they’ve been going in the past few years.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vi0Y7xZJE-c

Thankfully, Mastodon really bring their A-Game with some of these last few tracks.  “Andromeda” is a track that really caught me off guard the first time I heard it, and it continues to every time.  It almost has a Mathcore vibe in that very Dillinger Escape Plan sounding intro.  Quite frankly, I really didn’t think Mastodon had THIS in them.  “Andromeda” is heavy in parts, and epic when it needs to be, and it ends up coming off sounding like an old school Mastodon track.  It’s intense, but it’s also really well produced, and some of those vocal harmonies here work seriously great.  Instrumentally, it’s over the top with all sorts of solos, but HELL yes is it great to hear.  “Andromeda” is intense, brutal, and THE track of the album.  “Scorpion Breath” sort of another throwaway however.  Right from this intro, this sounds like the overblown progressive bull-crap that Mastodon was shoving down our throats on “Crack The Skye”.  The thing is though, as much as I couldn’t get into that album, I respected it for being instrumentally wowing.  “Scorpion Breath” on the other hand is much messier and very jumbled sounding.  Once again, there’s nothing here that I find to be seriously terrible, but this one also doesn’t make Mastodon look nearly as good as they believe it does.  We’ve made it to the end folks, and this one was really shocking for me.  “Jaguar God” starts off with an acoustic intro, and usually when I hear one of these coming from a vicious band like Mastodon I run the other way.  However, this track has a sort of mystic folkiness that quite frankly really rubbed me the right way.  And to be honest, every instrumental here comes off so epic.  The vocals here aren’t exactly what I expected, being much smoother and softer.  But to be honest, overall as far as a memorable finale goes, this is one of the most epic I’ve heard in years from Mastodon.  The keys in the background are a nice touch as well.  Now, let me just say this, I’m usually the harshest of critics when it comes to progressive rock influence.  But on “Jaguar God”, I think it comes off incredibly well.  As soon as the second “movement” pops in here, I feel like everything seriously clicks.   All of the sounds that Mastodon were going for earlier, the grandness, the epic passages, it all culminates right here, and ends up resulting in some of the most exciting moments here.  I love how the acoustic riff sticks around even when things get heavy, and as lead vocal duties switch from member to member nothing gets sloppy.  Even the heavier moments that pop in later on come off seriously vicious, and may be some of the heaviest moments of the entire album.  So let me just wrap this up by saying this.  This is far from a perfect album, and I do have a lot of minor issues here and there.  But I still think that this is probably the best thing Mastodon has done since “Blood Mountain”.   If you’re a fan of their more progressive stuff however, you’re going to enjoy this even more than I did.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Ry7FStwey4

Rating 7.5/10

Give A Listen To: “Sultan’s Curse”, “Steambreather”, “Jaguar God”, "Andromeda"

Overall Thoughts:  Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that Mastodon are back to their old ways.  But this is probably the closest thing I've felt to an actual Mastodon album since "Blood Mountain".  While yes, the vocals are a BIG issue with me, and I feel like the viciousness has completely died down in Mastodon, there's also tons to enjoy here.  The songwriting for the most part is solid, and when they don't try to being something they're not, the instrumentals come off just as heavy as they once were.  This album actually gives me a little hope for the future of Mastodon.  But like I said earlier, if you're a fan of their more progressive stuff, this is going to be a whole lot more enjoyable for you.  

Creeper - Eternity In Your Arms

Creeper are an Horror-Punk band from England who up until recently really hadn't heard much from them.  But of course being an old school Horror-Punk fan, hearing these guys were coming out with their full length debut, I had to check them out.  When it came to their debut, self titled EP, I thought it was just alright.  "VCR" and "Into The Black" were solid tunes, blending more melodic sounds with the dark tinges of Horror-Punk.  But my issues came listening to the other tracks here.  People were comparing Creeper to the early days of AFI and the great Alkaline trio, two comparisons I could totally see.  But for me, Creeper's sound was a little TOO much like these greats.  Thankfully Creeper actually did a whole lot of improving for their "The Callous Heart" EP.  Now, I'm not saying this EP rewrote anything.  But Creeper were sounding less like their influences and writing VERY catchy tunes like "Lie Awake" and "Allergies".  On their "The Stranger" EP, Creeper continued to get seriously good at crafting these punks songs.  "Black Mass" was a bit too corny for my liking outside of that explosive chorus, and they still sounded maybe a LITTLE too much like their contemporaries, but I sure had trouble saying no.  Now, I've been a little iffy on these new singles, there are some good moments to them, but I don't wanna get to far into them.  Let's talk about Creeper's debut full length album.

“Black Rain” starts this album off, and right off the bat we have Creeper sort of playing to their influences with some pianos right out of the book of Alkaline Trio.  The opening speech here as well is sort of cheesy, not terrible, but I certainly feel like we move past THAT stage in Emo.  I digress, because when that main riff comes ripping in Creeper don’t sound too bad at all.  The riff have a little more energy than I’m used to hearing from Creeper.  And while these vocals were clearly ripped kicking and screaming out of Davey Havok circa 2005, they actually come off really nicely.  While Creeper aren’t exactly rewriting anything big as far as modern punk standards go, this really isn’t that bad.  What Creeper lack in originality, they make up for with BIG personalities.  And my God, can these guys ever write a gigantic hook that’s just memorable as hell.  I feel like I’ve reached an age limit where this is a little weird to enjoy THIS much, but as a one time fan of early 2000’s mall-punk, I’m just eating this all up.  And while I feel that 90% of anybody who would seriously enjoy this is wearing a Suicide Squad T-Shirt and has a chain on their wallet, I’m digging this.  “Poisen Pens” is up next, and right off the bat you have to give Creeper credit for coming such a long way as far as shear heaviness goes.  This has a little metal core influence for all of you Day To Remember fans.  But I think what’s really going to set Creeper apart from their contemporaries is that songwriting.  The verse are just fine and all, but these absolutely massive hooks that Creeper bring in are untouchable.  “Poison Pens” ain’t really half bad, but then again this is coming from a dude whose hear picks up a bit whenever he heard that Set Your Goals are touring.  It’s upbeat, and while it’s certainly over the top and clinging desperately to every modern punk stereotype, it’s still decent.  Creeper continue to stick to the heavier side of things with “Suzanne”, at least as far as their sound is concerned.  Vocalist Will Gould here whether he knows it or not is doing his best Matt Skiba impression, it’s a solid one though.  Creeper continue in their lyrics to bring up horror elements and gothic imagery, which honestly acts as such a big plus for them.  Then, once again, “Suzanne” has an absolutely GIGANTIC hook.  I’m not saying this is going to be anyones “Album Of The Year”, but as far as the watered down, current state of pop punk goes, this really isn’t that bad at all.  Up next, “Hiding With Boys” is a little smoother.  Creeper continue to wear their influences pretty blatantly on their shoulder, which moving further I really can see being a huge issue.  These huge hooks though seriously keep me interested in this album, probably way much more than I should be.  Creeper however seriously need to change things up a little bit though.  They honestly have a really solid foundation, but I can see a lot of these tracks getting stale quickly.  While a lot of these tracks are armed with monstrous choruses, I need a little more at the end of the day. Plus, the repeated “LOVING YOU IS KILLING ME” line is so damn corny I can’t tell you enough.  However, Will Gould counters that nicely with his actually cool, very goth like performance of “lay on your bed, lie to me”, right out of any classic goth band playbook.  “Hiding With Boys” is GOOD, but Creeper need to get focused and not let their sound get out of whack really quickly, cause this could SO easily be completely unlistenable.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmDiNAIccW8

Remember when I said this could SO easily be unlistenable?  Yea I should have bit my damn tongue.  “Misery” is up next, and ohhhhhh boy this slower, more acoustic side of Creeper is not for me.  Now, call me crazy, but is Will Gould going for his best Jesse Lacy impression here?  If he is, trust me buddy it’s not flattering anyone.  Moving on!  While the first few tracks on this album sounded so fresh and interesting for the genre, I feel like “Misery” has every element in it that make modern punk so unbelievably boring.  This one is just cheesy and ridiculous, and way too overly emotional.  And while technically this one has just as big of a chorus, it really doesn’t stick with me nearly as much.  “Down Below” is up next, and at the very least Creeper are back to a more upbeat sound.  But c’mon seriously this literally sounds like something from Alkaline Trio’s “Crimson” or AFI’s “Sing The Sorrow”.  I mean it’s certainly not BAD, but this just comes off seriously less original sounding.  Creeper once again do make up for that with a whole lot of catchy songwriting however.  It honestly makes “Down Below” fairly enjoyable.  Once again, this certainly isn’t too bad, but two things I have to bring up.  One, Creeper seriously need to work on making their material sound a little more original, and not like an Anberlin B-Side (oh c’mon I can’t be the only one who remembers them).  Two, and most importantly, they need to stick to the heavier sound of that we got to hear earlier.  I certainly get my wish on “Room 239”.  We’re back to a heavier sound for sure, and instrumentally this is solid.  But is it just me, or are the vocals and songwriting not nearly as catchy or enjoyable as earlier material here?  The group vocals are OK at best, but even lyrically this one is just bland.  More or less, “Room 309” is exactly what I was worried about.  And up next, what do you know, we have another acoustic cut, and right off the bat I’m not feeling it at all.  “Crickets” has Hannah Greenwood taking over vocal duties, and honestly as far as a ballad goes she sounds great.  But man, I feel like as far as lyrics go this is rehashing every single cheesy line from the early 2000’s punk scene.  There isn’t anything catchy, exciting, or even actually emotional for me to grab a hold of.  “Crickets” isn’t good, at all.  

“Darling” thankfully shows Creeper getting right back on track.  Here, at least the band sound fairly confident, and the horror punk influence has never felt stronger.  To be honest, it’s one of the strongest elements here.  While this album seriously got dull for a while, Creeper are starting to rebound nicely.  This still is really not that bad of an album at all, and if they expanded on some of these ideas I could see plenty of great stuff for these guys.  “Winona Forever” on the other hand isn’t nearly as punchy and enjoyable.  I do like how Creeper are sticking with the more upbeat material but this one just seems a little more disjointed, and even song structure-wise this one seems choppy.  Once again there are certainly good elements to “Winona Forever”, but this one could have been better, hell even the chorus here barely holds up.  Which leads me to the shockingly solid finale, “I Choose To Live”.  Now when I heard these opening, very theatrical instrumentals I instantly started to worry.  In cases like this, this could have been seriously awful or actually pretty darn good.  THIS, comes off honestly pretty darn good.  Nothing here comes off cheesy, this actually comes off really sweet in a sort of Gothy, “Nightmare Before Christmas” way.  It sort of has a vibe of The World Inferno Friendship Society (who I might be their sole fan of, and that’s fine by me) with the whole over the top feel, but yea it works really nicely.  This is mostly because here, Creeper find the perfect balance of paying tribute to their influences while not imitating them completely.  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cA6UA1C6F1k

Rating : 7.4/10

Give A Listen To: “Black Rain”, “Poison Pen”, “Suzanne”, “Darling”

Overall Thoughts:  Like I said earlier, I probably enjoyed this a whole lot more than I should have.  While this may be blaring from every Hot Topic in America for the next year or so, as far as modern "Punk" standards go, this is probably the best thing going.  The songwriting is sharp, and Creeper are keeping things more upbeat and heavy for the most part which is great for them.  But the real treasure here comes in these gigantic choruses, Creeper can certainly write a hook.  So yea, if they can maybe stop playing to imitate some of their obvious heroes, they could do something even bigger and better.  

Show Me The Body - Corpus I

If you're into stuff like Death Grips, to keep it simple you're going to seriously want to check out Show Me The Body.  On their "Yellow Kidney" EP, Show Me The Body seriously made a twisted masterpiece.  There were tight elements of Hardcore riffs that were often disjointed, with elements of spoken word Hip Hop, I had no idea what I was listening too but holy fuck was it wild and unpredictable.  2016's "Body War" seriously put these guys on the map however.  Show Me The Body were making very tense punk out of the book of some of the true classics in the genre, while still bringing in and respecting Hip Hop elements, this album was absolutely CRUSHING.  Some of the more spoken word performances didn't hit me as hard, but I liked these guys style.  Leading up to this there were some singles dropped, but I didn't even bother checking them out, I wanted to go into this free mixtape a little blind and be surprised, and BOY was I.

Nowadays, some of the biggest and best album’s have intertwining narratives that bring everything together.  While “Corpus I” is fantastic, the interludes here try to bring everything together and it really doesn’t do too much.  On “Intro” we get out first glimpse into just how unnecessary some of these are.  While a lot of the later interludes work with the album’s brutality nicely, this intro is just a waste.  Thankfully, Show Me The Body quickly get on track with “Trash”, one of the teaser tracks issued before this album came out, and honestly this really should have been the intro.  It’s noisy, with a semi-industrial beat and some really grimy production and pounding drums.  “Trash” goes from really nonchalant to really tense very quickly.  I love the very skittish semi-rap coming from Julian Cashwan Pratt, that still somehow saves a little room for hardcore yelps and screams.  You know you seriously have to give Show Me The Body she real credit.  Their blend of Hardcore Punk, Hip Hop, Noise, and all the other genres they bring in is totally refreshing and explosive.  It’s frantic, it’s gigantic, it’s brutal, this is to an extent literally EVERYTHING I want to hear from these guys.  From here on out though, as if it wasn’t already the case, all bets are completely off.  The rest of this free mixtape is crammed packed with all sorts of noisy genres and guests.  “You Thought What You Saw Was It” featuring Eartheater is up next, which brings in some weird jazzy undertones in those drums underneath.  But in a weird way there’s always been a sort of Jazz influence deep down in the sound of Show Me The Body.  On “You Thought What You Saw Was It”, the noisy synths are upped about 100 nothches, as well as Julian’s absolutely primal scream.  Then Eartheater comes in with this absolutely bizarre, yelp/shriek verse which strangely enough becomes one of the most memorable moments of this entire mixtape.  Not in a long LONG time have I gotten this sheer sense of Hell from a band, a sense that literally anything can happen at any point.  This track is absolutely brutal, from those droning synth notes to the crushing vocals.  Also, may I add that this interlude speaker returns to us here, but to be honest hear it blends fantastically with the crushing atmosphere of everything else.  Up next is “Hungry” featuring Dreamcrusher, and let me just say Show Me The Body, seriously you guys gotta give me a minute to breathe.  This one goes directly into this icy drone right out of the playbook of the fantastic Prurient.  “Hungy” is a totally different animal than what we’ve heard so far, and at it’s core proves that “Corpus I” overall is just a big ol’ mixed bag of every noisy genre that can AND will beat the living piss out of you.  This track however is much more slow and calculating, with Dreamcrusher providing a much more passionate, yet explosive performance.  Personally though, while I absolutely love the suffocating atmosphere on this one, I prefer the more hardcore and noisy tracks we’ve heard earlier, but thats just me.  However “Hungry” still has plenty going for it, it’s a fantastic drone-piece, and I love the constant screams of “BRING OUT YOUR DEAD!”.   “In A Grave” is up next, my honest to God pick of the album.  Right off the bat, the first vibe I get on this one is a total nod to Death Grips.  While I’m down for massive experimentation any day, I love the more straightforward instrumental here that doesn’t need a few minutes to really get going.  The beat though while it does get right to its point is just as skittish and left field however.  The rap verses here by the fantastic Denzel Curry are refreshing, his outsider sort of verses really go up fantastically with the sound of Show Me The Body.  Denzel’s verse here is as ridiculous as they usually are, and Moor Mother’s haunting hook adds plenty to the overall twisted tone to “In A Grave”.  As far as a track that really sticks with you overall, this is absolutely brilliant.  “Taxi Hell” is up next featuring Justin Flammia.  This one goes right back to that more subdued sound they were working with earlier, but “Taxi Hell” is much more interesting.  There’s just such a huge contrast between these more acoustic, sort of jazzy instrumentals and these harsh, explosive punk vocals.  I feel like the sheer excitement alone is a selling point for this album.  You really don’t know what you’re going to get hit in the face with next, or what genre it’s going to be, or anything about it.  And while the vocals on “Taxi Hell” are still as brutal and hardcore, they’re equally seriously passionate and come over really well.  But just like that, out of nowhere the ending to this track is fueled by metal riffs ready to wake you the hell up.  Show Me The Body for years have impressed me with their style, but HERE I feel like they’re seriously impressing me for the first time.

“Just A Slither” is up next featuring Negashi Armada.  Honestly, this one is a little too subdued for me, which is something that’s going to be a real recurring theme here.  I really do get what they're going for with this one, but I’m not really feeling the vocals here.  The whole sort of over-the-top theatrical vibe is a tough one to pull off, and this one falls a little short.  The verse is fine and all, and lyrically it’s still pretty damn explosive as far as that goes.  But it just kinda doesn’t fit with the rest of the vibe of this mixtape.  I do however like the very jazzy backing instrumentals that remind me of something BadBadNotGood would touch down on.  “Corpus I” continues to be a true mixed bag of hardcore, there’s a whole lot of great, but there’s also some awkward moments.  Show Me The Body bounce right back however with “Halogen” featuring Mal Devisa.  Here, I absolutely love the icy atmosphere they’re working with, and Mal’s verse is absolutely furious, political, and eye opening.  The sort of BadBadNotGood feel continues throughout this one, but it’s still obviously Show Me The Body.  Mal’s verse as it continues is pretty damn jaw dropping, mostly because of how passionate it is.  Match those up with the very glistening sound of the synths and the bizarre chill-wave sound, and you have one brilliant track.  Hell, there’s even that fantastic, hypnotic ending where Mal keeps repeating “A smile is Pocket Change”, intense I tell ya.  Up next is “Stress” featuring Cities Aviv.  Honestly, as far as a real hardcore punk sound goes, the opening riff here may be the most punk thing you’re going to find.  Cities Aviv’s very poetic, conscious sounding rap verse however really makes this one a home run.  Plus, I love how as the track goes on and the instrumentals get more and more intense, so does Aviv’s performance.  This mixtape is absolutely pummeling.  Every time you get into the groove of everything, either Show Me The Body or one of their many guests make you rethink everything.  “Stress” is absolutely ridiculous, with Aviv’s over the top rap verse ending in blood-curdling screams.  Once again we have this interlude which really doesn’t do that much, but it certainly gives this mixtape a very dirty feel.  Then we have the much slower but just as heavy “My Whole Family, featuring Skunk Rott, Chris Wilson, and Pierre Botardo.  While the intro to this one is massive and pulsating, clearly I haven’t understood what I’m listening to, because quickly I’m caught off guard as this one breaks into a very old school sounding hardcore punk track.  It’s angry, it’s intense, it’s rebellious, and most of all absolutely fantastic.  Each feature here brings in their own distinct flavor of punk which are all decent in their own way, while being totally different.  “My Whole Family” is brilliant honestly.  “I’m On It” featuring Casino Theo however falls a little short for me.  The hip hope influence is certainly a whole lot heavier here, it honestly sounds a whole lot like Death Grips, especially their early stuff.  Casino Theo’s verse is fast, hectic, and totally at home amongst Show Me The Body’s atmosphere.  My only real issue here, is that this doesn’t really come off as much of a collaboration.  All of the other tracks here have Show Me The Body playing off their guests and vice verse.  This on the other hand, sounds like a Casino Theo solo track, it’s not terrible though.  But I really feel like every time I start to doubt Show Me The Body’s skills, they come back with a track like “Spit” featuring Princess Nokia.  This track gets right back to a very dark, driving beat with an almost punk bass line.  This one is just so grimy and low key that I fall instantly in love.  Honestly, I have no idea where they found half of these collaborators, I really don’t, but I’m seriously glad they did.  “Spit” has this weird Trip Hop feel with some jazzy undertones that works out wonderfully.  It’s dark, and lyrically it’s absolutely disgusting, but for a smoother song it really fits in with the rest of the mixtape.
  Show Me The Body aren’t done with us yet.  Up next is “Cyba Slam Fit World Dance Party (Uppa echelon dance remix)” featuring Yo Chill and Chip Skylark.  All I have to say is, this is probably going to be the crunchiest, grimiest dance track you’re going to hear all year.  To be honest, the beat and the instrumentals are actually fantastic, they actually fit on this mixtape great.  But the features here are a little underwhelming compared to the others on here.  It’s not terrible, but this just comes off a little thrown together at the last minute.  “Everything Hate Here” featuring Moor Mother however returns to the very explosive, experimental sound of the earlier tracks here.  It’s funny actually, when it comes to tracks like this honestly I can’t even fit these tracks into a genre.  The vocals on this one are so bizarre and twisted that they end up going with the off kilter rhythm and groove, if you even want to call it a groove.  “Everything Hate Here” is fantastic, explosive, a little risqué, fun, and completely indescribable.  And that last 20 seconds of bongos and drone synths are completely off the wall and brilliant.  "Two Hands" featuring Nolife is up next, and at this point I seriously feel like I never know what to expect.  This one is a little more subdued, and like most of the other subdued tracks here it's not nearly as exciting.  The more rap centered verse comes off well, but the beat is seriously lifeless. Beyond that, the atmosphere really isn't nearly as crushing as it usually is.  "Two Hands" has so much potential, that's especially clear when it comes to that very abrasive last 20 seconds or so.  "Why You Lying" featuring Babyglock and Tony Seltzer is up next, and once again brings forward a serious Trip-Hop feel.  It's fantastic however, and I absolutely love the tongue-in-cheek feel to the lyrics on this one.  Not to mention, on the little interlude at the end of "Why You Lying" really blends fantastically, and while there's overall not TOO much to this one, it was certainly great while it lasted.  Finally, this twisted venture into every hardcore genre imaginable brings us to "Proud Boys" featuring Dedekind Cut.  Not so shockingly, Show Me The Body clearly are going out at their most explosive.  I feel like this is literally a buildup of all the songs that have been culminating.  It's straight up punk, it's got a great rebellious feel, it even has a fantastic retro tinge to it.  Overall, it's a great finale.

Rating 8.2/10

Give A Listen To:  “In A Grave”, “Halogen”, "Spit", "Trash"

Overall Thoughts: This is by FAR my favorite thing that Show Me The Body have done so far.  This mixtape is absolutely nuts, bringing in everything from Punk Rock, to Hardcore, to elements of Rap, Experimental/Noise Music, Trip Hop, and just about everything abrasive in between.  Some of the slower, more subdued tracks here remain a little underwhelming, but most of this mixtape is seriously solid.  Even the feature lineup is absolutely stacked.  If you're a fan of everything noisy, this is gonna be something you want to check out.  And hell, it's free!

Pallbearer - "Heartless"

The thing about doom metal is, you have to really do it right.  If you don't it can literally be the most boring of all of metal's numerous sub-genres.  Pallbearer though, have always done it right.  2012's "Sorrow and Extinction" quickly put them on the map as far as Doom Metal goes.  The songs on here were rich and textured, the atmosphere was crushing, the details were pretty stunning, and the performances were fantastic.  Quickly, Pallbearer were making a name for themselves as one of metal's hottest new acts.  I wasn't really crazy about the production on "Sorrow and Extinction" but I felt like if they got that under wraps they could produce something truly legendary.  And hoenstly, they really did.  In 2014, they released their followup album, "Foundations of Burden", an absolutely massive, crushing, brilliant piece of doom metal.  Pallbearer showed they were fearless as a metal band, and brought in 6 monolithic tracks, most well over 10 minutes.  The result was one of the most complete feeling Doom Metal albums I'd heard in years.   I couldn't wait to see what Pallbearer were going to do next.  Sadly, their 2016 "Fear & Fury" EP really didn't do much for me.  This was a covers EP, and to be honest I just didn't feel the same amount of emotion coming from them do other bands music.  However, from the sound of the first few singles here, Pallbearer sound more explosive than ever.  Let's go a little deeper into this new Pallbearer album.

This album starts off with one of the singles released leading up to this that got me really excited to hear this album, “I Saw The End”.  There are some very Classic Rock oriented licks towards the intro, but those are quickly wiped out by the usual doom metal of Pallbearer.  For the most part this comes off as triumphant sounding and vast as their last two full length albums to be honest, outside of the atmosphere.  While the atmosphere is certainly here in spirit through lyrics and the vocal performance, but the overall it seems so much more fragile.  However, that’s really my only complaint, I’ve loved this track since the first time I heard it, and vocalist Brett Campbell’s vocals are LOADS more memorable than on the covers EP Pallbearer released last year.  The music of Pallbearer has always been very cinematic, and that feel is certainly back in droves here, and while I continue to miss the very dreary atmosphere this is certainly still epic.  However the real story on “I Saw The End” is the beginning of the inclusion of more progressive rock elements, which certainly isn’t bad (at least not yet….).  At least on “I Saw The End”, the progressive rock elements add nicely to the sheer epic ness of this track.  Not to mention that slowed down verse towards the end is absolutely gigantic.  Overall, this is a quality Pallbearer track, and most importantly, it has a slight catchiness to it that Pallbearer up to this point haven’t really been able to utilize.  Up next is the only other track dropped from this album early, “Thorns”.  Right away this has a much dirtier sounding production right off the bat, as Pallbearer bring in some serious metal influence, which certainly gives this record a little bite to it.  While it’s grimy sounding, Pallbearer keep that huge, very epic sound that they’ve always had (especially in those opening solos).  The vocals on this track are fantastic, and if you’re a fan of the HUGE passionate vocals of Pallbearer’s “Foundations of Burden” album, you’re gonna live this.  Once again though, the atmosphere here is a little flimsy.  When it comes to the chorus, it’s a little weird.  At first it sounds fine, but by the end of it, it loses all of its steam.  That being said, “Thorns” is still pretty damn good.  Pallbearer obviously still kind’ve wear their influences all over their sleeves, which continues to include progressive rock bands.   For the most part, the progressive rock influence has completely taken over.  Here, it’s more present than ever, especially within some of those later guitar licks that are way too cheesy for my taste.  Thankfully though, this track is powerful enough to fight through that.  But when it comes to future releases for Pallbearer, boy am I ever worried.  “Lie Of Survival” is up next, and I don’t know about y’all, but I can’t remember the last time I hear a Pallbearer song that was so bare.  Pallbearer here continue to go for this cinematic metal sort of sound, but this intro instantly falls quite a bit short of that.  The opening solo here isn’t nearly as emotional and heartfelt as they think it is, and every other instrumental is just as overblown and overproduced, and honestly the lease “metal” thing I’ve heard.  Even when the crunchier guitars come in, this one just really doesn’t come off as anything but really sluggish.  Now, trust me, I know that’s how doom metal is supposed to be, but it just isn’t done very well here.  I do however like the vocals here quite a bit, once again I really gotta hand it to Brett Campbell for really bouncing back after that EP last year.   But as far as the “epic” brand of metal that they’re going for, this quite frankly is falling so short that it’s pretty faceless, and dare I say, boring.  Some of the later solos are alright, but I feel like in a way Pallbearer are trying way too hard.  They’re trying to incorporate so many styles and genres, and honestly it’s way too big for them.  The result is an 8 and a half minute song, with only 4 truly interesting minutes.  “Lie Of Survival” is alright, but seriously falls short of the power of their older material.  Up next is the near 12 minute “Dancing In Madness”, which honestly really isn’t that much better.  It’s another track that’s seriously way too sluggish for it’s own good.  If you’ve listened to Pallbearer in the past you’ll know damn well that even when they’re dealing with much slower tracks, it’s absolutely soul crushing.  But here, while there seriously isn’t anything going on that’s truly terrible, there’s nothing going on that’s really that memorable either.  “Dancing In Madness” contains solo after solo, and none of them add up to anything even remotely heartfelt.  The synths that pop up in the background do nothing but make this track even cheesier.  Thankfully though, things do get a little better around the 3 minute mark, seriously.  But why in the hell did it take 3 whole minutes for something genuinely interesting to happen?  And I know I said it earlier, but doom metal is a genre based around seriously patience testing long winded tracks.  But “Dancing In Madness” is just so incredibly soulless.  There are big instrumentals and even bigger vocals, but at the end of the day Pallbearer might have been a little more spot on wit the title than they thought (cause the material here is often HEARTLESS!! GET IT!?!?!?!!).   All kidding aside though, to say this track is seriously bad though is a lie, because some of the later elements are great.  Take for example the later guitars that get that fantastic chugging sound, and the vocals that follow are seriously crushing.  It’s still far from what I expected to hear from Pallbearer here, but it’s a nice change of pace.  The acoustic breakdown towards the end isn’t doing anyone any favors, but thankfully Pallbearer answer back with triumphant vocals and instrumentals.  All of the elements of Pallbearer’s winning formula of the past are all here, but they’re seriously oversaturated and unfocused.  

“Cruel Road” at the very least, has a whole lot of what’s been missing right from the opening bars.  The huge atmosphere that made their past work such a pleasure to listen to is right back on display here, and the opening guitar solo for the first time basically on this entire album doesn’t come off completely full of itself.  Here, Pallbearer sound like they really took their time in writing this, and the results are fantastic.  The vocals, for my liking, could have been a little more over the top. But overall I just love the sheer heaviness of this, and as ridiculous and almost goofy these group vocals are, they certainly work great for Pallbearer.  It may be the most straightforward here, but at the end of the day it’s Pallbearer being themselves and nothing more, and honestly that’s all we can ask for.  Not to mention, there’s not a Progressive Rock element in sight.  Up next is the title track, but can I just say I’m seriously sick of all of these bizarre interludes and spin off moments here.  Pallbearer have proven that they can make fine music still, but it’s these quick little dashes into other genres that make this album disappointing.  And it’s a shame, because here the vocals are seriously fantastic.  To be honest, a whole lot of “Heartless” its really solid once everything gets going.  My main issue remains the same though, and that is all of these damn Progressive Rock/Progressive Metal breakaways.  It’s not flattering, it’s really just interrupting Pallbearer from what they do est.  Some of these riffs as the track goes on are barely even touching the Doom Metal spectrum.  Pallbearer have all the tools they need to seriously make another fantastic album.  But on this album, they remain full of ideas, but are taking on about 6 different sounds that end up making them sound like something they're not.  But tracks like this are so aggravating, because when we get to later moments like that quiet, atmospheric passage, I feel like it’s exactly what I’ve been wanting to hear this entire album.  Moments like that seriously take me back to a simpler time for Pallbearer.  As a matter of fact, a whole lot of the later moments here come off much more interesting, and even more interesting come off actually progressive.  There continue to be plenty of great moments, but Pallbearer are seriously unfocused.  This album ends off with the gigantic, 13 minute “A Plea For Understanding”.  This track from it’s opening bars has a sort of Shoegaze - Black Metal feel that sounds like something Alcest would have done a few years back.  It certainly sounds nice and all, but it’s just so damn spacious sounding.  Where’s the tension?  Where’s the dread?  Everything I’ve come to know about Pallbearer is certainly still here, but once again it takes it’s sweet time coming out.  Once things get rolling, this isn’t too bad.  But in grand scheme of things, this is a completely different Pallbearer we’re dealing with, one you’re going to love or hate.  It’s a Pallbearer that’s much less tortured and much more cinematic.  Some of the solos here are OK, and I do like how some of the more somber tones have returned.  But then Pallbearer throw that all away with some of the lamest vocals of the entire album.  Add in one progressive metal element after another and I’ve thrown in the towel.  Almost every track here has promise, but this is far from what I signed up for.  While there are great moments, overall, this isn’t epic, this isn’t life changing, this is barely Doom Metal.  This is just metal that’s severely overwritten and very full of itself.  

Rating: 6.9/10

Give A Listen To:  “I Saw The End”, “Thorns”, “Cruel Road”, "Heartless"

Overall Thoughts:  You know, everything that made Pallbearer such an awesome band like 3 or 4 years ago is certainly still there.  That's not the issue.  The issue is that Pallbearer are trying so hard to be THE metal band that's gonna push every boundary and break every genre.  Here, they blend doom metal, progressive metal, and all sorts of other genres and what ends up happening is not so shockingly, VERY messy.  There are solid instrumentals here and a decent vocal or two there, but overall if I had to use one word to describe this album, it would be "Unfocused".  

Mount Eerie - A Crow Looked At Me

Mount Eerie is the often challenging audibly and emotionally project of singer-songwriter Phil Elverum.  Phil, formerly of the equally as challenging and celebrated The Microphones, is an acquired taste to say the least.  Over the years, his mostly nature based lyrics time and time again have almost completely revolved around Death among other depressing themes, but boy are his albums ever rewarding.  His first project under the Mount Eerie name, "No Flashlight" wasn't too show-stopping.  Phil often seemed unclear of which direction he wanted to go in, and there were just one too many short detours on this album for me to really sink my teeth in.  Phil got his act together quickly though, because with Mount Eerie's next project "Lost Wisdom", he won me over for life.  This album was only 24 minutes long, but remains easily one of my top 5 favorite folk albums ever.  I loved how skeletal it sounded, so low-fi, and so dismal and depressing.  It was wonderful, and while it was so short it sounded complete.  But most importantly, Phil Elverum now seemed to have direction.  2008's "Dawn" was much warmer sounding and a little less low-fi, but just as rewarding.  It contained newly recorded versions of some of my favorite tracks from "Lost Wisdom", a sequel to The Microphones "The Moon" which comes off fantastic, and plenty of other quiet folk songs that come out wonderfully.  Now, up until this point, Phil's Mount Eerie project has been pretty straightforward.  That's where 2009's explosive "Wind's Poem" album comes in.  This album is, for lack of a better term, insane.  Insanely good, but still insane.  There's far from any real folk music here, as this album is made up completely of noisy, black metal and drone metal influenced rock with Phil's calming vocals underneath.  The result is one of Mount Eerie's more challenging album's, but my gosh is it ever an experience.  The sheer contrast between the explosive music and Phil's verses is a show within itself.  Throw in a Twin Peaks referencing track and the highly sought after sequel to his legendary "Lost Wisdom", and it's one hell of an album.  We wouldn't hear from Phil again for 3 years.  In 2012, the unnerving "Clear Moon" was released.  After the explosive sound of their last album, hearing Mount Eerie against a much more quiet atmosphere was unsettling, yet seemed right.  "Clear Moon" was filled with much more experimental rhythms and weird detours, but almost all of it was  beautiful and just as painfully human as you would have come to expect from Mount Eerie.  Later that year, Mount Eerie also released "Ocean Roar".  Now, honestly this was the firs time I really wasn't floored by a Mount Eerie album.  There were great moments like "Waves" and I loved the return to the noisy sound, but there were so many small detours that were really unnecessary.  "Sauna" was disappointing in it's own ways as well.  Lyrically, Phil brought his A+ game.  But instrumentally this was some of the most underwhelming thing Mount Eerie had done in a while.  The thing is, Phil's music has always been patience testing, but there was always a pay off. On "Sauna", I felt like there was absolutely no pay off.  In a way, I feel like Phil needed a little bit of inspiration to get him back to the same truly gripping, engaging songwriting that he once achieved.  However, I don't think anyone really expected for Phil to get THIS sort of inspiration.  If you haven't been keeping up with Phil, last summer his wife Genevieve was diagnosed with cancer and passed away shortly after.  Phil instantly began writing new material for the first time in a few years.  The singles released early from this album have been absolutely gripping, let's chat about the rest of this album, keep some tissues handy.

(Some classic Mount Eerie to set the mood)

This album starts off with “Real Death”, which more or less is Phil’s mission statement here.  If you were expecting some sort of loud, triumphant return for the music of Mount Eerie, you should probably turn back now.  I mean, when you start an album with the lyric “Death is real, someone’s there and then they’re not”, you know you’re going to be needing some tissue with for this one.  Phil knows damn well that some idiotic fool might take this album as “rocket back to success” by using Genevieve’s death as leverage, and he addresses that in the opening bars.  “A Crow Looked At Me” isn’t just another Phil Elverum project, this is much more than an album, this is something so much greater.  This is more or less a therapy session.  The amount of detail on “Real Death” and every song that follows is tremendous, as Phil takes us through a series of very real thoughts we’ve all had no matter how hard they are to process.  The lone synth and light drumming as well as Phil’s lonely guitar end up making him feel so damn lonely.  Phil Elverum to me has always been so secretive and secluded, often letting us into his life but doing it in his own unique way.  Here however, he’s taking us into his life and thoughts like never before.  The little details he uses throughout are so well chosen.  Like the way he brings up his wife still getting mail in the days after she died, and of course that heartbreaking moment when Phil opens up the package to realize Genevieve had realized she wouldn’t be around to see their daughter go to school and bought her a backpack to use one day.  This isn’t a folk record, this isn’t a Mount Eerie record, this is Phil Elverum taking us by the hand and guiding us through everything he’s felt.  It’s not an easy journey, but in the 2 and a half minutes of “Real Death” this is already an emotional ride unlike any I’ve had in some time.  Even the way Phil ends this track by saying “I Love You” followed by abrupt silence, if you don’t tear up a little you’re a monster.  “Seaweed” is up next, with this one changing in tone quite a bit (be prepared for a real roller coaster of thoughts and emotions).  Phil’s vocals here seem so unforgiving and bitter, as if he feels like someone came and physically took his wife right away from him.  He sounds so lonely, the way he’s coming to this island all by himself that he and his late wife planned on moving too.  He goes heavily into detail here about forgetting little things about Genevieve, which is just such a heart wrenching thought.  The little details are just so stunning and real, the way he’s looking for signs of Genevieve’s presence everywhere.  He sees a bird on the beach that he knew she loved, and believes it’s her in a way until he realizes it’s there just to eat, and later finds himself in a field of her favorite flowers and wondering if she’s there with him, it’s all just so real.  Little things like that are things we’ve all felt as we’ve desperately looked for some sort of closure.  Of course, this eventually leads to Phil thinking about life itself, in a way that only he can.  This album is a gripping tale, but in a strange way, I feel like Phil is all of us.  We’ve all lost someone so close to us at some point, but Phil is summarizing every feeling that comes with that, even feelings we’ve never been able to describe.  In a weird way, Phil understands death more than a lot of us.  Even the way he goes into details about spreading her ashes and how he “doesn’t think of theme as her”, before abruptly ending once again, is nothing but raw emotion.  “Ravens” is up next, and instrumentally is just as stripped back and lonely sounding.  This is far from an album you’re going to want to take in the instrumentals for, no this is all about Phil Elverum.  “Ravens” goes back a few years and starts to bring in some serious imagery.  It’s chilling honestly as Phil recalls seeing Ravens near his house.  He even claims that he knows they’re omens, but he doesn’t know what of, as they flay towards the island he earlier described on “Seaweed”.  But Phil here takes us one step further as he brings us into Genevieve’s treatment as well as what she was feeling at the time.  He goes on to explain how her body changed, and how guiltily he says he didn’t want to see her in pain and would turn his head (which he follows up with how now he “Couldn’t look at her at all”).  This album is one tear jerking track after another.  He feels so sorry for the things he had to do since her passing, as he begs for forgiveness for having to sell her clothes.  Phil continues to put in so many little details that you would honestly think that you were watching a movie.  As “Ravens” continues, Phil continues to feel so incredibly lost.  Then we get to lines where Phil is going on saying that he’ll wait for Genevieve to come back wherever it is she’s gone to, only to reply with “And then I remember, death is real”, absolutely heart wrenching.  “A Crow Looked At Me” is an incredible, emotional display the likes of which I haven’t heard in a very long time.  Not to mention, the short pauses at the end of each track are always so hard hitting, like Phil knows damn well you’re going to need a few seconds to take this all in.  “Forest Fire” is up next, and as far as the instrumental goes, this may be the most technical one here, which really isn’t saying much at all but still.  As the album goes on, we’re getting a little further from Genevieve’s passing, as Phil begins to go into detail about the Fall after he lost her.  Phil’s vocals on “Forest Fire” are noticeably very different here, it’s a little more understanding of what happened, even a little less lonely (although clearly he’s still very much hurt).  The piano’s are a nice touch and end up giving this a very BIG sound.  Phil continues to be a little stronger emotion here, as he talks about going through her things and going swimming.  This honestly though, doesn’t really hit me nearly as hard as earlier tracks, completely because of the instrumental.  It’s far from a bad tune, and I’m still completely emotionally invested in Phil and his story. But these much bigger instrumentals while they’re more thought at, they’re a little distracting from Phil’s performance.  Still though, this album remains absolutely gripping.   

Phil Elverum’s journey continues with “Swims”, and right off the bat this is more true to the sound that I was loving earlier.  Phil on this one isn’t holding back a single punch clearly, as he goes into great detail here about holding Genevieve as she died.  He seriously isn't holding anything back on this album, which is both incredible on his part but also really makes this album a little heavy to sit through at times.  Not since David Bowie’s “Blackstar” has an album come THIS close to death, however this is a little bit of a different perspective obviously.  Here, Phil brings up these unreal images of him not being able to go into his wives bedroom because he can still see her there, and how the only ting that can help is time.  As he goes on, Phil continues to sound so lonely, as he reveals that only two months after his wife’s passing the counselor he was seeing also passed away, leaving Phil without anyone to talk to.  And just when you thought the Phil was out of meaningful one-liners, he drops his truest yet, as he states “We are all so close to not existing at all”.  It might just be Phil’s most painfully true lyric yet.  Even that last little excerpt of him talking to his daughter about his deceased wife is just heart wrenching.  On “My Chasm” it begins to be evident that as these songs go on, Phil sounds much more at peace, mostly because as the album goes on so does time.  He describes himself as a container of stories about Genevieve who he often brings up without even trying.  Even more painful is his response, as he asks “Do people really want to keep hearing about my dead wife?”.  It’s moments like this that make you realize that Phil Elverum is bringing up every tough question, every question were afraid to ask anyone, especially ourselves.  The amount that he loved Genevieve is astronomical, which becomes more and more evident as the album goes on.    While Phil is obviously hurting inside still, he seems a little more comfortable within his own thoughts and within his own life.  But now it’s everyone else’s lives he’s worried about, as he claims he doesn’t understand the looks in their eyes.  Phil continues to drop meaningful memorable lines constantly, as he states “I now wield the power to transform a grocery store aisle into a canyon of pity and confusion”…how the hell did he even come up with that?  As “My Chasm” goes on, Phil continues to take things we’ve all felt and put them into words that we never could, all leading up to Phil once again stating “Look at me, death is real” sounding on the verge of tears.  Up next is “When I Take Out the Garbage At Night”, which sounds very instrumentally like his “lost wisdom” material.  Now, if you’re familiar with Phil’s music, no matter where or when it is in his discography, you should know he’s always been one for nature.  Here is no different, as he claims he’s one with the universe when he takes his garbage out.  I love the backing sound effects here, and as far as an atmospheric track goes, this is fantastic.  Obviously I’ve felt for Phil this entire album, but here I feel for him especially, as he goes into seriously dreading going back in the house and looking up at the windows for the room that Genevieve died in.  “When I Take Out the Garbage At Night” is really good, but doesn’t hold up as much because it’s seriously short, if only it was a minute or so longer.  But it IS really fascinating that even within his grieving he’s so comfortable in nature.  Up next is “Emptiness pt. 2”, and just from the title of this one you should know what you’re in for.  This one comes off as lonely in every way.  Even within everything that Phill is feeling right now, he’s so affected and so entranced by nature, which really isn’t too shocking.  Hell he’s even had whole albums or projects centered around the theme of being alone with nature, but he’s never felt this alone within it.  He talks about climbing this mountain just to be by himself.  While Genevieve’s absence has been a theme in almost every bar on this album, it’s never felt this deafening.  But even this far into the album, where you would think Phil was running out of incredible one liners, he states "Conceptual emptiness was cool to talk about back before I knew my way around these hospitals”.  Whether he meant it or not, Phil Elverum has truly gone above and beyond on this album, and this will go down in history as one of his most shining moments.  

By the time we get to "Toothbrush/Trash", you can tell Phil is just getting exhausted gathering all of his thoughts.  Phil opens up this one with "Today I just felt it for the first time", it's such a simple statement, but man is it ever powerful.  This one is all about memories of Genevieve, but here he sounds a little more understanding and at peace.  When it comes to "A Crow Looked At Me" as a whole, I think this album at the end of the day is most important for Phil himself.  This is an album about recover, healing, moving forwards, and finding things to live for, while of course remembering and respecting the past.  His memories on "Toothbrush/Trash" are fading slightly, and the photographs he has of Genevieve are fading slightly, and "The echoes" of her are dying down throughout the house.  Phil however still believes his wife is everywhere, from the wind blowing doors closed to flies buzzing around.  As soon as that piano hits though, I feel hope for Phil in some weird way, as he's moving on the best way he can.  He claims the garbage has been sitting in a room since Genevieve passed away, and he's finally gotten around to taking it out.  It's the little details that make this album unbelievably real.  This album is simply put, a masterpiece of emotion.  "Soria Moria" is up next, and is so much more subtle then the last few tracks here.  There's a huge nostalgic feel here, and even a bigger sense of longing.  The one is more of a story from when Phil was young, but to be honest it's just as well though out and just as focused.  It goes on to tell of him in his teenage years, and at first I really didn't know where this one was going.  Until the obvious hit me, that this is the story of how he met Genevieve.  Like I said earlier, it's shown here just how incredibly in love these two were, and from when they first met it seems.  It just makes this album that much more powerful.  Just when you think that Phil has literally touched down on every topic he could bring up, he ends up bringing a tear right to your eye again as he goes deep into her Chemotherapy treatments, and how he drove to see her every day at the hospital to bring her food and whatever else she wanted.  "A Crow looked At Me" is far from an album that is instantly gratifying.  You need to be patient with each track, and "Soria Moria" may be the biggest slow burner here.  An once again, this track ends with Phil once again finding something he loves in nature beckoning to him.  Now, I'm running out of tissues, so let's chat about this album's finale, "Crow".  Here, we have Phil singing to his daughter about his wife, so clearly this one has a few more feels to throw our way.  He talks here about walking through the woods to look at the remains of forest fires he discussed earlier, with this incredible imagery of his daughter asleep in his backpack wearing Genevieve's hat.  It's the two of them, father and daughter, all alone.  No wildlife, no people, no birds, just a single crow, and what an image THAT is.  Plus, that last exchange between Phil and his daughter is so surreal and hopeful and stunning, that you'll have to listen for yourself, it'll be more powerful that way.  

Rating: 9.1/10

Give A Listen To:  “Real Death”, “Seaweed”, "Swims", "Toothbrush / Trash"

Overall Thoughts:  Going into this, if you know even a sliver of the backstory of Phil Elverum's wife Genevieve's final months, you know this album is going to be heavy.  Not heavy musically, clearly, as Phil's trademark whisper quiet vocals are present mostly accompanied by only an acoustic guitar.  As far as emotions and atmospheres go however, this may be the heaviest thing you listen to all year.  Phil goes deep into detail of each stage of coping with the loss of a love one, bringing  in details you would never expect to hear from Phil or any artist.  Phil however, brings all of these themes together masterfully though, and puts feelings and thoughts into words that we as humans often try to but can't.  Whether he knows it or not, Phil Elverum has made his most flawless work under the Mount Eerie name.