Album Review: Pallbearer – Mind Burns Alive (Nuclear Blast)

‘Mind Burns Alive’ is the new, and fifth studio album from US doom legends Pallbearer. A meditation on isolation, trauma and mental breakdown, framed by the possibility of redemption and escape. It will be released on May 17th, 2024, via Nuclear Blast.

I think it’s fair to call Pallbearer one of the best melancholic doom bands in the world. They’ve not released anything that hasn’t been anything less than great, and while they might sit in one specific genre, they’re far from constrained by it.

They’re a band with layers, crafting a heavy sound, but from different angles. With no further proof needed than the heft of this new record. One that creates heaviness through emotional weight. Drawing from a relatable angle that speaks of isolation and drowning in the mire of a world gone wrong.

You’ll feel ever second of this album in your heart, mind, and soul. With the emotion pouring through on the gloomy melody of opener, Where the Light Fades. The scaled back and simplified approach that embodies Mind Burns Alive is clear here, but as the track expands, Pallbearer showcase more and more layers to their heart-wrenching sound. The vocals here are simply stunning, delivering so much of the sentiment, but it’s the building crescendo that truly delivers on the sense of epic.

Few won’t already be blown away by the creative level Pallbearer have reached, but that is taken so many steps further with the title track. The doom is here, and it comes with a cinematic vibe that creates grandeur few would expect. Disconcerting drops into dramatic melody add a sense of fragility to the track, Pallbearer nailing the sense of solitude in the most haunting way possible. It is as beautiful as it is morose.

Crafting deeper and darker levels of atmosphere, Signals is a captivating track that will have an overwhelming effect on many. Pallbearer making ‘quiet’ something so special here. Whereas Endless Place, one of two tracks that pass the ten-minute mark, is a doom track that only they could be capable of creating. Epic, progressive, psychedelic, and very heavy. This is this band at their grandest sounding, dragging the listener into the deepest and darkest of depths. Yet, it’s not a terrifying journey down, all because Pallbearer are there every step of the way. It’s not comforting music, but it is beautiful in its own way.

While this album does require a willingness to be immersed, Pallbearer sure make it easy and with the last two tracks on this album, they confirm this release as one of the best of the year. First, with the pensive and pervasive sentiment of Daybreak, Pallbearer at their most scaled back. Then with a track that is up there as one of the heaviest they have ever written, With Disease. Everything on this album needs much deeper analysis, but as an individual track, this finale could occupy hours of time alone.

Together, and with everything that came before, Pallbearer move to a level not many bands can reach. A creative level of utter brilliance, a level where everyone can feel the emotion in what they do, a level that brings forth an album that compliments everything they’ve done to date, while being completely its own thing. This is Pallbearer’s Mind Burns Alive and it’s going to have a profound effect on everyone who allows it to.

Pallbearer – Mind Burns Alive Track Listing:

1. Where The Light Fades
2. Mind Burns Alive
3. Signals
4. Endless Place
5. Daybreak
6. With Disease

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