Mountain Goats: All Eternals Deck Review

Artist: Mountain Goats
Album: All Eternals Deck
Label: Merge

For all intents and purposes, All Eternals Deck is The Mountain Goats’ thirteenth studio album. The Durham, NC based band has been at it since 1991, releasing cassettes, singles, and EPs at a steady rate. It’s all thanks to John Darnielle, the band’s lead member and songwriter.

Darnielle’s style is unmistakable. It’s very poetic, biting, even funny at times. One thing that Darnielle’s songs always have in common is that they’re very personal–it’s like he’s reading his journal over music and releasing it to the masses. A lot of the time this makes for an intimate experience between Darnielle and his listeners. The Mountain Goats 2002 release, Tallahassee, is a testament to this.

However, if you have ever gone back and read the pages of your own journal, you know that it doesn’t always yield the most entertaining of material. Unfortunately, I have to say that, even as a longtime fan, All Eternals Deck seems to be lacking the kind of edge that we all know a Mountain Goats album is capable of.

“Damn These Vampires” is a bit of a slow start, but the lyrics are strong enough to hold your attention. “Estate Sale Sign” seems to be the moment where Darnielle and the band really embrace the full sound of the band. “High Hawk Season” introduces a small choral arrangement–a first for Mountain Goats music. My personal favorite, “Prowl Great Cain”, is upbeat and fun, and there are times when Darnielle uses that nasally growl we’ve all grown accustomed to. Needless to say, All Eternals Deck has its moments. But as an album, it’s impossible not to take into consideration what this album means in comparison to the band’s discography as a whole.

The Mountain Goats and, consequently, fans, are in an interesting position. In the old days, Darnielle was writing unique songs and recording them using the available means at the time. Because of it, we were given wonderfully lo-fi, gritty, heart wrenching recordings which accompanied Darnielle’s diary style well. But The Mountain Goats have made their way to bigger and better things, and because of it, the band’s records have become polished. They’re pretty and crisp. It seems to take the edge off of it a bit too much.

But it’s not the artists’ fault to move forward with their sound, even if it’s not necessarily what die hard fans want to hear. For me personally, All Eternals Deck isn’t groundbreaking in any way, but it’s still Darnielle doing what he does best–sharing his life with us. It’s up to each listener whether he wants to listen or not.

Rating:  

Written by James Kaufholz

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