Pallbearer is currently in the studio, but they gotta eat and fans need something to tide them over until the next full length. The first is a single originally released on a flexi-disc for Decibel. They re-mastered the song from the single and are releasing this as a 12”. If you haven't heard this song yet, it's as good if not better than anything from "Foundations of Burden". It has a much heavier rumble than we have heard from them in sometime. The mix rawer than what we have heard on the last album and the vocals sit back against the guitar more rather than soaring out over them. At six minutes it’s also pretty condensed for a doom tune these days.
They take on the ambitious job of covering a Dio era Sabbath song with "Over and Over" which often doesn't get as much love as the Ozzy stuff. Brett Campbell handles it well. Dio is a powerhouse and to emulate him invites in the opportunity to slip into cheesy power metal comparisons. He tastefully handles what could have gone the way of Evergrey, instead he lets the passionate melancholy ooze out. At first listen it sounded like they nailed the solos, then I went about and listened to the original version. It’s some of Iommi’s best work, so Campbell instead opts to do more of his own thing. The bassist lays back rather than attempting some of Geezers crazy fills, to create a more relaxed vibe to the song, but still capturing the dark heaviness to it.
Campbell takes a different approach on their cover of Type O Negative's " Love You to Death". Never dipping down into Steele's baritone, Brett focuses on the phrasing. Even rolling his r's for the moments where it’s most fitting to take you to Transylvania. Going into this I thought they would think the more Goth tinged elements were campy and try to smooth them over. The guitar picks out the keyboard lines. It's evident that Campbell's voice is not as powerful as Steele's or have the same resonance. He tends to picks his battles while doing the job at hand with this one. I'm a huge Type- O fan so if it gets thumbs up for me then it's saying something. Of the three songs here, the Type O cover might not be the strongest song here, but is still better than the filler on most doom albums I run across on a daily basis. With out question Pallbearer continues to earn their place at the top of the game when it comes to current crop of modern doom bands . There is a link to the pre-order of the vinyl on their Bandcamp page.
