Gig review: Elder, Pallbearer

Taken from the show organizer, found here

Oh man, here we go again. This show happened immediately the next day after "Envy" and I seriously needed some time to collect my thoughts. Two exceptional shows in two days is not something neither my mind nor my heart can handle anymore. October was glorious.

As you can see on the concert poster, the event was held on the 26th October 2022 in Gothenburg, Sweden at the venue called Pustervik. I've so far listened to quite a few bands at this place, most notably "Neurosis"/"Author & Punisher" back in 2017, which sadly I haven't covered on the blog, and the "Cult of Luna"/"Brutus" show which was written about here.

"Irist" opened the gig that evening, but sadly I missed them completely due to a botched "let's meet up for pizza before the show" gathering with friends. I truly hate when that happens, but life throws you curveballs like that some times. Sorry to "Irist", I'll make sure to catch you the next time around.

Pallbearer

"Pallbearer" was the first opening act for my fellowship and myself. In all honesty, they weren't so keen on attending this part of the concert either, but I kept insisting on it to the point where I was probably quite annoying so they gave in. In the end I'm happy that I kept pushing them, because I was rather mind blown by the end of their set.

The doom metal quartet hit the scene way back in 2008, but it wasn't until 2012 that I personally heard their music, which back then came in the form of the "Sorrow and Extinction" release. It boggles my mind that 10 years have passed since that album... Time flies when you're having fun, since that record became a sort of golden standard for me when it comes to this particular genre. I've always been easy to fall for various doom metal bands and albums, but "Sorrow and Extinction" had that truly special something that elevated it from all the rest. It harbors a unique intricacy in its sound that urges you to keep on exploring it and it resulted in me coming back to it over and over again, each time discovering a little tidbit that will make me want to revisit once more. To my utmost pleasant surprise, they continued this through the other releases as well, especially "Foundations of Burden" which I also thoroughly adore.

And indeed, the full range of these merits of sound came into full bloom during their live performance in Pustervik. A towering wall of music showcasing expert craftmanship of sound-scaping, "Pallbearer" weave an epic narrative with every note, the singer's nigh angelic voice followed by a monstrous entourage of instruments. The band absolutely picked up a fitting name, since visually they do sound like you are witnessing a funerary procession of some great cosmic entity. 

They don't shy away from writing songs that are 10 minutes or beyond in length, but what is truly amazing with their style is that they take that time to slowly build up the said narrative. It's a steady, droning progress with so much room given to the listener to enjoy and pay attention to all the minute details, the newly added notes to the melody or interesting pitch changes. 

I realize now that this gig review reads more like an album review, but I feel like this speaks volumes to the capabilities of this band. It simply felt like listening to them in as high quality as on their recordings, but magnified a thousand fold in grandeur and enjoyment. I was insanely thrilled that they played the legendary "Foreigner", first song off of "Sorrow and Extinction" which instantly took me back 10 years into the past, as well as "Caledonia" which is my current favorite from their latest 2020 "Forgotten Days" release.

Hopefully this made you want to check the band out, which you can do on their website here or support them directly via their patreon page found here. 

Elder

A short break later and "Elder" kicked it off in a fashion only they know how to pull off. I've already seen this US-based quartet perform back in 2018 which was arguably my favorite concert that year, sadly undocumented. On both these occasions there has been a lot of hype about attending, since several friends of mine, and myself included, swear by them when it comes to live shows. They know how to pack a punch and make their performances a wild and entertaining ride. But I'm getting ahead of myself a bit...

The band has been kicking ass and taking names since 2006, but they've largely flown under my radar up until 2011, mostly due to my own "fault" since those years I've been fully consumed by screamo and discovering more bands there than I could properly digest. But 2011 saw the release of "Dead Roots Stirring" and, man alive, was that a massive sucker punch! Funnily enough, I thought that this release was a record from the screamo band "Elder" (active from 2008 to 2009, which released the album "Reflect"), so hearing "Dead Roots Stirring" can be contributed to a destined mistake. Truly a happy chance.

By now, that album has climbed legendary heights in my mind. It dishes out an amazing fuzz-induced progressive metal wrapped in a delicious psychedelic coating of stoner goodness. Over time, the band progressed a bit farther from their crunchy, distorted sounds into a more clean and pristine version, but also ramping up the epicness of their melodies into literal space. In several reviews I saw them being tagged with "space rock" and I can definitely see why. On a surface level, their writing style is sometimes chaotic and it feels like a 10 minute song actually has four different songs packed together, all with vastly different melodies, pacing, and riff construction. But once you actually delve deeper into their sound, you notice how all these tunes are masterfully entwined and go perfectly hand in hand with each other. That is where the beauty of "Elder" shows for me, the vastness and infinite possibility of sound.

Quite literally, their performances do seem like a voyage through space and time. Buckle up because they won't leave you time to breathe. A rushing melody with an intense solo can instantly drop and change pace, an atmospheric tune can take a sharp turn to a rising wall of sound chased by a crazy up-front drum section, you simply can't rest with these guys. Fast or slow, thrilling or sluggish, they take you on a sonic adventure which you don't want to stop. I vividly remember in 2018 when they played "The Falling Veil", a song that has to be one of the most thrilling metal experiences when viewed from the crowd.

This time around the attendees were blessed with songs such as "Compendium", the titular "Dead Roots Stirring", "Sanctuary", and the amazing "Halcyon" which became my new live favorite from "Elder". In case you don't know any of these songs, you can check them out on bandcamp here or check out the band's website found here.

The thing that resonated quite clearly for me near the end of that evening is that these two bands go hand in hand together. They are two perfectly complementary bands for one another, similar yet utterly unique at the same time. While with "Pallbearer" you can focus on the subtle changes in music and the developing of narrative, with "Elder" you just let them guide you and there is no clue where they will take you. Rare are the occasions where touring bands fit so well together and this is something that I most definitely must applaud.

That's all for now folks, I hope you enjoyed the read. Stick around, many fun things approach!