No real getting around Pallbearer‘s fifth LP, Mind Burns Alive — announced today with a May 17 release date as their second album for Nuclear Blast behind 2020’s Forgotten Days (review here) — as one of the biggest doom releases of the year. The Little Rock, Arkansas, four-piece now in their 16th year have done more to modernize the emotive doom melancholia fostered by the likes of Anathema, Moonspell, maybe even on some level their now-labelmates My Dying Bride — for whose new album Mind Burns Alive should make a fitting complement — for the subsequent generation, and as the first single and lead track “Where the Light Fades” shows, their own maturity as a group has only brought more poise and soul to their approach. Plus they tour. Hard. Regularly.

They’ll do so again for Mind Burns Alive, of course, and after co-headlining a Euro run with Elder in 2022, Pallbearer have lined up support from REZN, The Keening, Rwake and Inter Arma — not everybody all at once; calm down — for back-t0-back stints on the East and West Coasts. Dates, preorders, more about the record, the cover art, the tour poster, the ticket link for when they go on sale and of course the “Where the Light Fades” video all follow here, and I celebrate the PR wire for doing so much heavy lifting. If and when you start the clip, give it some time to build up. They get there, and the melodic path being explored is part of the point. Not the first time in Pallbearer‘s arc that they’ve rewarded the patience of their audience, by any means.

Have at it:

PALLBEARER’S ACHINGLY BEAUTIFUL NEW ALBUM, MIND BURNS ALIVE, ARRIVES MAY 17 VIA NUCLEAR BLAST RECORDS

PRE-ORDERS AVAILABLE NOW: https://pallbearer.bfan.link/mind-burns-alive.ema

WATCH THE “WHERE THE LIGHT FADES” VIDEO HERE

EXTENSIVE NORTH AMERICAN TOUR ANNOUNCED; TICKETS ON-SALE THIS FRIDAY

Pallbearer, indisputable masters of emotionally insightful and stirring heavy music, return with their most raw and heartfelt album to date: Mind Burns Alive (May 17, Nuclear Blast Records).

“These songs are a deeper exploration of dynamics and sonic color than anything we have done up to this point,” vocalist/guitarist Brett Campbell explains, shedding light on the band’s decision to strip everything back on the forthcoming nearly hour-long album. “I’m of the belief that true heaviness comes from emotional weight, and sometimes sheer bludgeoning isn’t the right approach to getting a feeling across.”

A preview of Mind Burns Alive arrives today with the release of “Where The Light Fades” and its Dan Almasy-directed video. Lyrically, the song eludes to what are the overall themes on the six-song album, as Campbell describes the tracks as “vignettes that tell the stories of people who deal with myriad sicknesses of the spirit… illnesses communicated by the world we live in, and the subjects are the symptoms of the disease.”

Five years in the making, with recording initially slated for 2020, and thwarted yet again in 2022, it was 2023 that saw the band members living locally to one another in Little Rock for the first time in nine years. As a group, they self-produced the album in their own, newly constructed studio (Idlewild Audio) and at Fellowship Hall Sound. Reflecting on this, bassist/vocalist Joseph D. Rowland remarked, “It’s ironic given that the album is largely centered around isolation, but it felt like it summoned us into being back together again in one town, after so long apart.”

Album pre-orders, which include limited-edition vinyl, CD and digital, are available now: https://pallbearer.bfan.link/mind-burns-alive.ema.

The band has simultaneously announced their most extensive North American tour since 2018, dubbed the “Temporary Spaces North American Tour,” the six-week trek launches on June 6. Tickets are on-sale this Friday at 10 am local time. Openers include Rwake (June 6 to 9; 29), REZN (June 11 to 29), Inter Arma (July 11 to August 3), with The Keening opening on all dates. Visit Pallbearerdoom.com for ticket links.

Pallbearer headlines the opening night of Stumpfest X on April 11 at Mississippi Studios in Portland, Ore.. The band has also confirmed two special European performances: The Copenhell Metal Cruise (Copenhagen to Oslo) from Oct. 25 to 27, and Nov. 16 at Helldorado in Eindhoven (The Netherlands). More European dates will be announced soon.

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

“Temporary Spaces North American Tour”:
June 6 Memphis, TN Growlers *
June 7 Murfreesboro, TN Hop Springs *
June 8 Birmingham, AL Zydeco *
June 9 Atlanta, GA The Masquerade *
June 11 Durham, NC The Fruit #
June 12 Asheville, NC Euology at Burial Beer Co. #
June 14 Baltimore, MD Metro Gallery #
June 15 Lancaster, PA Tellus360 #
June 16 Philadelphia, PA Underground Arts #
June 18 Hamden, CT Space Ballroom #
June 20 Brooklyn, NY Music Hall of Williamsburg #
June 21 Boston, MA The Sinclair #
June 22 Montreal, QC Theatre Fairmount #
June 23 Toronto, ON Velvet Underground #
June 25 Milwaukee, WI Vivarium #
June 26 Chicago, IL Thalia Hall #
June 27 St. Paul, MN Turf Club #
June 28 Lawrence, KS The Bottleneck #
June 29 Little Rock, AR The Hall &
July 11 St. Louis, MO Off Broadway ^
July 13 Denver, CO Gothic Theatre ^
July 15 Calgary, AB Dickens ^
July 16 Edmonton, AB The Starlite Room ^
July 18 Vancouver, BC Rickshaw Theatre ^
July 19 Seattle, WA Substation ^
July 23 Sacramento, CA The Starlet Room ^
July 24 San Francisco, CA Great American Music Hall ^
July 26 Santa Cruz, CA The Catalyst ^
July 27 San Diego, CA Brick By Brick ^
July 28 Los Angeles, CA Teragram Ballroom ^
July 29 Phoenix, AZ Crescent Ballroom ^
July 30 Albuquerque, NM Sister Bar ^
August 1 Dallas, TX Trees ^
August 2 Austin, TX Parish ^
August 3 Houston, TX White Oak Music Hall ^
*-w/Rwake & The Keening
# – w/REZN & The Keening
& – w/Rwake, REZN & The Keening
^ – w/Inter Arma & The Keening

Pallbearer is Brett Campbell (vocals/electric guitar/synthesizer), Devin Holt (electric and acoustic guitar/vocals), Mark Lierly (drums/percussion) and Joseph D. Rowland (vocals/bass guitar/synthesizer).

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Pallbearer, “Where the Light Fades” official video