THE MOUNTAIN GOATS - Heretic Pride

Tuesday, February 19, 2008 at 09:00AM
soundscapes in Pop/Rock

If you had your hopes up, based on the title/doomy cover/gothic font, that John Darnielle had finally reconciled his well-enough-documented metalhead scribe side with the well-enunciated confessionals he pens as leader of and writer for The Mountain Goats, let me sadly but inevitably dash them. One thing Darnielle's music continues to share with the heavy metal he loves, though, is its polarizing nature--either you're devoted to his stories and the oft-unlikely settings of such ("Lovecraft In Brooklyn"'s two-chord bar-rock, "Sept 15 1983"'s National Public Reggae), or you just can't stand it.

Article originally appeared on Soundscapes - 572 College Street Toronto (http://www.soundscapesmusic.com/).