popwreckoning

I was very excited when it was announced last year that The Mountain Goats had signed to Merge. My favorite band signed to my favorite label? What could go wrong? Well, at least Merge did well.  All Eternals Deck is easily the most beautifully packaged Mountain Goats CD to date. Unfortunately, it is probably their worst album to date.

To be fair, the album does have it’s high points. Interestingly enough these come from songs produced by death metal legend Erik Rutan. It might seem unlikely, but Mountain Goats leader John Darnielle has long professed a love for that genre. “The Autopsy Garland” is a song about Judy Garland, and it contains some  of the most harrowing lyrics Darniellle has ever written. “Fat rich men love their twelve years old” he sings against an acoustic guitair under a layer of doom. It’s scary stuff.

Another highlight immediately follows, the mid-tempo “Beautiful Gas Mask”. The refrain “never sleep, remember to breathe deep” is repeated, and Darnielle’s storytelling shines. This sounds like pushing himself, and this is definitely an album of experimentation. Unfortunately, the experiments fall flat and fail miserably.

For example, “High Hawk Season” featuring the North Mountain Singers with a bizzare chorus reminiscent of 1930′s Carter Family. If you can get past that, Darnielle’s wordplay is interesting, but he can’t quite pull off what he’s attempting. That could be said for the entire album, really.

To be fair, there are a lot of growers here, such as “Prowl Great Cain”, or “For Charles Bronson”, but more often the songs come off as boring or half-assed.

It pains me to say this, because I love this band. I’m not quite as obsessed as some of my friends, but they’ve been my favorite since at least 2004. I’ve seen them live numerous times, and I’ve spent ungodly amounts of time discussing them on message boards, and yelling at people, telling them to listen to their material. This is going back on the shelf with albums I never listen to, like Heretic Pride and Nothing For Juice. If you’ve never heard a Mountain Goats album, go buy Sweden, The Coroner’s Gambit, and We Shall All Be Healed. You can ignore this, and I’m going to go wait for the next one.