22. Pallbearer - 'Forgotten Days'

More doom, but of a softer more emotive variety. Pallbearer make music that feels equally confessional and therapeutic. It is like they have laid the contents of their hearts and inner thoughts in front of you for your delectation. It is fragile and emotionally wrought, pained and crestfallen. This is as far from Metal's macho shit as you can get. It is insecurities and ill-ease put to music, a spotlight into a damaged soul, a treaty on loss and yearning. It is also utterly beautiful. Damaged, wounded and hurt, but beautiful, all the same.

It is a subdued and reserved record, that only reveals as much as it needs to. The approach is measured and proportioned, designed to entice rather than overwhelm the listener. Its power is not in bone crushing riffs, but instead in its intense emotionality. Just exquisite.