Pallbearer’s run of records since Sorrow and Extinction in 2012 has been one of the more consistent in heavy music, each album a refinement of the last, each one developing the melodic doom template the Little Rock band established early and have never abandoned. Mind Burns Alive continues this without apology. This is what Pallbearer sounds like in 2024: heavy, melodic, built around riffs that stay in the body long after the record ends.
“Where The Light Fades” opens at the band’s characteristic pace, unhurried, the guitar tones warm and massive simultaneously, Brett Campbell’s voice sitting above the low end in a way that makes the heaviness feel almost gentle. It’s a deceptive trick: this music is undeniably heavy, but it doesn’t feel aggressive. The title track is the album’s centrepiece and delivers accordingly, a riff that earns the track’s two-word title, the kind of heavy moment that makes the genre worth caring about.
“Signals” and “Endless Place” form the album’s interior, the former a mid-album gear change, the latter a slower meditation that gives the record breathing room before “Daybreak” and “With Disease” push toward the close. “With Disease” is the album’s most complete statement: six minutes that build, resolve, and end with a clarity that not many doom bands manage.
The production is exactly right for this music, the guitar tones have the warmth that Pallbearer have always chased, and the 2024 mix finds the right balance between heaviness and melody. The low end is present without being overwhelming, which is crucial for a band whose songs work as much through melody as through weight. The vocals are mixed high, correctly so, because Campbell’s singing is as important to the sound as any riff.
Standout tracks: Mind Burns Alive, With Disease, Where The Light Fades
Five records in and Pallbearer remain irreplaceable. There is genuinely no other band doing exactly this.
