Herectic Pride is presented as one giant musical comic book. After all, the latest LP from the Mountain Goats was packaged with a comic book press kit created by the frontman John Darnielle, the creative genius of the band. The kit, which gives a brief and vivid description of each of the album’s 13 tracks, not only gives a clear look of Darnielle’s actual intentions and interpretations, but also magnitudes the veteran’s songwriter’s true lyrical depth and quality.

Unlike the band’s previous releases, Herectic Pride is more fictional and exaggerated. Gone are Darnielle’s autobiographical struggles. Instead, we are introduced to a world of new characters and events that though fictional, aren’t immune to life’s difficulties. The album’s opening track “Sax Rohmer #1″ uses the mysterious yet restricting themes of Sax Rohmer’s Fu Manchu crime novels to convey a sense of loneliness. Borrowing from the works of controversial writer H. P. Lovecraft, “Lovecraft in Brooklyn” looks at life’s uncertainties, and in the end, casts a suspicious look on nearly every aspect of reality. While the stories come from the depths of Darnielle’s brain, their meanings are eerily profound.

Each of the 11 remaining tracks feature similar characteristics. From the album’s title track depicting a “heretic” being executed for what he believes in to the relationship with an old flame in the appropriately titled “How To Embrace A Swamp Creature,” no theme, no story, no emotion is left untouched.

Yet the album is neither too powerful, nor overly vivid. It’s numerous uses of real life novels, places, and fictional figures allow for much interpretation. And as a result, this fictional music comic book becomes more relatable and realistic than any one looking at the initial press release would probably believe. The album’s characters aren’t as fictional as they appear. To Darnielle, anyone can be that “Swamp Creature” or  “Michael Myers.” Just because the stories are fiction doesn’t mean the emotions expressed or the themes evoked deviate from our own reality.

And because of this, the album is perhaps one of the Mountain Goat’s most personal and profound albums to date. As with most other albums, the band’s lo-fi, usually simple sound allows for the true impact and passion of the lyrics to be felt. You end up getting lost in the complexity of the stories, not the catchy melodies of the music.

And I forgot how much fun reading could be…

Rating:

Check Out:
“Sax Rohmer #1″
“New Zion”

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Categories: Album Reviews, News
Tags: The Mountain Goats