I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: April 20, 2026] Pallbearer

I saw I had heard of Pallbearer but didn’t really know all that much about them.  I assumed they were a really heavy growling type of band.  So when Knoll announced that they were opening for them, I checked them out, enjoyed them and bought a ticket to the show.

It turns out that they are a doom metal band and the album that they were touring, Foundations of Burden, is a classic of the genre.

I had enjoyed the first two bands but when Knoll was done, a whole bunch of guys rushed to the stage.  One of them was actually a guy I’ve seen at a couple of shows recently (MMJ and Band of Horses–he even looks a bit like Jim James).  He is a massive headbanger (headbanging to Band of Horses!).  So he was finally in his element and he knew this album really well. There were a bunch of guys together who knew each other and they were all headbangers and fist pumpers.  And  while it was all harmless, I didn’t enjoy the vibe.

And when the band started I realized the real problem for me.  I was standing right in front of Brett Campbell’s guitar amps.  And it was LOUD!  So when he stepped up to the microphone and I literally couldn’t hear him I wasn’t too happy.  Later on, bassist Joseph D. Rowland sang another part and I couldn’t hear him either.

By the third song, when Devin Holt played a solo and I could hear it until Campbell started playing his guitar, I knew I had to move.

So the album has 6 songs which meant I was already half way through.  But I just wasn’t really enjoying myself.  So I left the front and headed toward the back.  And things were much better back there.  The sound was phenomenal–balanced perfectly and still loud as anything.  Mark Lierly was on drums with a fairly small kit net to the wall of amps–but he was certainly loud enough.

Since the place was fairly empty, I did something I never do.  I went to the bathroom between songs.  I could hear the band fine in the back corridor and I only missed a small amount of the short (3 minute) Ashes.

I am bummed that I didn’t enjoy the first few songs all that much because Worlds Apart has some great riffs.  And I really like Campbell’s vocal style and wish I’d heard it better during those songs.

Being in the back of a show takes me out of the experience somewhat and I actually felt that after 40 some minutes I had heard everything I needed to hear.  But I hate leaving early and I was enjoying the sound of the band.  I think I was just wiped out (I was tired driving into Philly and very tired driving home after).  But I knew they only had two songs left, so I stuck it out and I’m glad I did. I enjoyed the last song on the record and their final song was a Type O Negative cover (a song I didn’t know–I don’t really know Type O Negative), but it was actually pretty catchy (unlike Pallbearer songs which are groovy but not catchy) and was a fun ending.

Since I was near the exit, as soon as they played their last note, I headed out.  Normally I like to hang around a few minutes and see if the band engages in some way, but I was just as happy to get going home.

I don’t know if I’d see Pallbearer again, although I do feel like I didn’t give them my all.  So…maybe.

1. Worlds Apart ♠
2. Foundations ♠
3. Watcher in the Dark ♠
4. The Ghost I Used to Be ♠
5. Ashes ♠
6. Vanished ♠
7. Love You to Death (Type O Negative cover)

♠ Foundations of Burden (2014)