The Mountain Goats' 'Heretic Pride' will renew your faith
By: Peter Valelly, Managing Editor
Issue date: 2/15/08 Section: The Arts
Darnielle's nasal screech has annoyed many of my less Goats-inclined friends, but when he harnesses to his lyrical and musical goals, it becomes one of the crucial ingredients to the Mountain Goats' sound.
The album's title track repeats this trend, with the verses escalating to an anthemic and ominous chorus which continues the emotionally dark aura triggered by "Sax Rohmer #1." "Autoclave," perhaps the album's highlight, is a similarly dour song set to an unexpectedly bouncy backing track. "You oughta head for the exits/ the sooner the better," Darnielle warns, before confessing, "I am this great unstable/ mass of blood and foam/ and no one in her right mind/ would make my home her home." Continuing the theme of fraught and fateful romantic encounters, "How to Embrace a Swamp Creature" seems to describe the vertigo and anxiety of getting back in touch with an ex.
Even the less triumphant tracks have breathtaking moments. "Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident," sinister and spare, begins with the show-stopping image of a woman, "Marduk t-shirt sticking to her skin/ refugee from a disco in old East Berlin." The chorus of the otherwise unremarkable "New Zion" has a weight and drama unexpected amidst the song's fluffy organ noodling. Finally, "In the Craters of the Moon" escalates to a taut, feverish rock'n'roll panic that brings its otherwise stale lyrics to vivid, frightening life.
The spectacular closer "Michael Myers Replendent" is the latest of many examples of how, with the same folk-rock meat-and-potatoes musical elements, the Mountain Goats can continually refine, revise and reshape their sound. With its triumphant martial beat, Darnielle's dramatic yet reserved vocal performance, and appropriately cinematic couplets like, "The prom queen's caught in the high beams/ and the strings keen, it's a big scene," this surreal retelling of the classic slasher flick "Halloween" concludes the LP perfectly.
The Mountain Goats have been one of the best and most ceaselessly productive bands on the indie scene for over a decade, and one of the greatest things about their career is how it dodges standard rock chronologies and narratives. They've never had a definitive prime, a marked slump, or a triumphant resurgence. Each album has the chance to be their best yet; "Heretic Pride" may have made good on that chance.
The album's title track repeats this trend, with the verses escalating to an anthemic and ominous chorus which continues the emotionally dark aura triggered by "Sax Rohmer #1." "Autoclave," perhaps the album's highlight, is a similarly dour song set to an unexpectedly bouncy backing track. "You oughta head for the exits/ the sooner the better," Darnielle warns, before confessing, "I am this great unstable/ mass of blood and foam/ and no one in her right mind/ would make my home her home." Continuing the theme of fraught and fateful romantic encounters, "How to Embrace a Swamp Creature" seems to describe the vertigo and anxiety of getting back in touch with an ex.
Even the less triumphant tracks have breathtaking moments. "Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident," sinister and spare, begins with the show-stopping image of a woman, "Marduk t-shirt sticking to her skin/ refugee from a disco in old East Berlin." The chorus of the otherwise unremarkable "New Zion" has a weight and drama unexpected amidst the song's fluffy organ noodling. Finally, "In the Craters of the Moon" escalates to a taut, feverish rock'n'roll panic that brings its otherwise stale lyrics to vivid, frightening life.
The spectacular closer "Michael Myers Replendent" is the latest of many examples of how, with the same folk-rock meat-and-potatoes musical elements, the Mountain Goats can continually refine, revise and reshape their sound. With its triumphant martial beat, Darnielle's dramatic yet reserved vocal performance, and appropriately cinematic couplets like, "The prom queen's caught in the high beams/ and the strings keen, it's a big scene," this surreal retelling of the classic slasher flick "Halloween" concludes the LP perfectly.
The Mountain Goats have been one of the best and most ceaselessly productive bands on the indie scene for over a decade, and one of the greatest things about their career is how it dodges standard rock chronologies and narratives. They've never had a definitive prime, a marked slump, or a triumphant resurgence. Each album has the chance to be their best yet; "Heretic Pride" may have made good on that chance.
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