Pallbearer, who are set to release their fourth album, Forgotten Days on October 23 via Nuclear Blast, have released a second track from the nine-song album: “Rite Of Passage”. Pre-order here.

“’Rite Of Passage’ is both a reflection and a confessional,” explains bass player/songwriter Joseph Rowland. “The toll that loss has taken on my life often finds ways to remind me that I may never feel whole, and the song’s purpose is to express and embody that emptiness. It felt totally appropriate to wrap it in reimagined trappings of our earliest doom-leaning material.”

“Forgotten Days is us exploring what is natural to us,” says bass player/songwriter Joseph Rowland. “The songs tell me where I need to go when I write. We wanted to focus on songs that were visceral and enjoyable to play live – that our audiences would enjoy experiencing. We’re also getting back to more of the groovier and heavier elements of Pallbearer. Heartless is fairly uptempo and technical. This one is a little more open, it hammers you.”

“This record has a lot of thematic ties to our first record,” Rowland continues. “When we were writing Sorrow and Extinction, my mother was terminally ill. It’s been 10 years since she passed. It’s taken me all of this time to take a really good look at myself. While we were writing Forgotten Days, I knew, ‘Now is the time to sit down and begin to understand who I have become.’”

“Joe and I have always written lyrics separately,” adds singer/guitar player Brett Campbell. “But we always end up with lyrics that are connected by threads. I’m not sure why that is. Maybe it’s because we’ve been in close proximity for a long while. Between Heartless and Forgotten Days, we were home for an extended period of time. I think we finally had time to reflect. Memory is a big aspect of the new record. The passage of time. How things change as perspective changes. Was the past truly the way that you remember it at all?”

The Randall Dunn (Sunn O))), Earth, Johan Johannson) produced album was recorded at Sonic Ranch Studios in West Texas. Michael Lierly, drummer Mark Lierly’s brother, once again created the album’s artwork, crafting images that were roughly hewn yet heartbreaking in their expressive heft. The striking cover, by Michael Lierly, is the ideal foil to Pallbearer’s thick musical and lyrical melancholia.

Forgotten Days tracklisting:

"Forgotten Days"
"Riverbed"
"Stasis"
"Silver Wings"
"The Quicksand Of Existing"
"Vengeance & Ruination"
"Rite Of Passage"
"Caledonia"

"Rite Of Passage":

"Forgotten Days" video:

Pallbearer is:

Brett Campbell (vocals/guitar)
Devin Holt (guitar)
Joseph D. Rowland (bass/vocals)
Mark Lierly (drums)

(Photo - Ebru Yildiz)