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Heretic Pride

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Untitled

Heretic Pride, released on February 19 2008, is the 16th album by The Mountain Goats, and their 6th album for record label 4AD. The album was produced by Scott Solter and John Vanderslice.

On November 20, 2007, The Mountain Goats' official website announced the album, its release date, its track list, and its personnel.[1]

According to Pitchfork Media, the album takes its title from from Aura Noir's song "Black Deluge Night" (found on their 2004 album The Merciless) which contains the couplet "Soaring demons now swarm the skies/ In awe and heretic pride." [2].

Artwork and press kit

A three page comic book press kit was created for this album, with John Darnielle giving a brief text description of each song and songwriter/artist Jeffrey Lewis providing the illustrations [3]. This art is not included in the album packaging, and was created only for promotional usage prior to album release.

Reception

Heretic Pride received mostly positive reviews, with website Metacritic projecting an aggregate score of 73/100 [4]. The Guardian critic Maddy Costa praised the album as "13 absorbing songs, sparingly orchestrated to concentrate attention on the lyrics [...] that grows more enveloping with every listen." [5]. Pitchfork Media critic Zach Baron awarded the album a rating of 8.0/10, and notes that it marks a return to earlier Mountain Goats albums, both musically and lyrically, and praises the album for its balance, stating "For every furious declaration, there's a moment of uncertainty." [2]

On the negative side, Mojo awarded the album only 4/10, arguing that "[t]he polished arrangements of Heretic Pride do Darnielle's songwriting no favours." [6]. Similarly, despite acknowledging that John Darnielle "is a monstrously talented guy," Slant Magazine criticises the album for going over old territory, arguing that Darnielle "has covered every last of these inches before," and that "[t]he lack of the sort of overarching theme that powered previous discography standouts Tallahassee and The Sunset Tree through their dull bits means that these moments rob the record of a lot of momentum and goodwill." [7]

Track listing

  1. "Sax Rohmer #1" - 3:41
  2. "San Bernardino" - 3:19
  3. "Heretic Pride" - 3:43
  4. "Autoclave" - 3:34
  5. "New Zion" - 2:55
  6. "So Desperate" 3:21
  7. "In the Craters on the Moon" 3:32
  8. "Lovecraft in Brooklyn" - 3:49
  9. "Tianchi Lake" - 3:20
  10. "How to Embrace a Swamp Creature" - 3:27
  11. "Marduk T-Shirt Men's Room Incident" - 3:21
  12. "Sept 15 1983" - 3:43
  13. "Michael Myers Resplendent" - 2:52

Personnel

Produced by Scott Solter and John Vanderslice.

References

  1. ^ "The Mountain Goats News Archive - High Heresy". mountain-goats.com.
  2. ^ a b Baron, Zach. "Heretic Pride review". Pitchfork Media.
  3. ^ "Press Kit/One Sheet comic book by Jeffrey Lewis". thejeffreylewissite.com.
  4. ^ "Heretic Pride aggregate score". Metacritic.
  5. ^ Costa, Maddy. "Heretic Pride review". The Guardian newspaper.
  6. ^ Mojo Magazine, March 2008 edition, p.106
  7. ^ Hughes, David. "Heretic Pride review". Slant Magazine.
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