Review Redux: The Mountain Goats – Bleed Out
hello folks!
hello folks! today, we’re checking out Bleed Out, by the Mountain Goats, a record i reviewed here on the site when it originally released. I thought about just linking back to that review, but ive been thinking a lot about the speed at which i go through records and my review process generally recently, and i definitely want to make space in my review schedule for rereviews, revisits, and the opportunity to change my mind. ive mentioned a few times that i know that some records have the types of songs that sit with you, and that i’ll likely have changed my tune a bit down the road. ive known the whole time that there’s a flaw in trying to listen to and fully review an album in a few days, but i also want to listen to and talk about music at roughly the speed i have been so its a bit of a tightrope to walk. to an extent, ive been doing it a bit in the Skaject, but none of the previous reviews are in this style of review and none of them are on this site, so its very much a different thing to write about.
so, all that to say – expect some re-reviews coming down the pipe. for re-reviews, i wont be doing the full track-by-track, more emphasizing the parts that stand out to me now and the parts of the experience that have changed, capped out with the faves/dislikes and the updated rating – whether or not it changes will likely depend on why im re-reviewing. a discog review like today thats scheduled and not prompted by changing feelings? who knows, anythings possible!
with all that said – Bleed Out:
okay with the context of all the records between Beat the Champ and this one: incredible theming on this album. the last three records have had slightly weaker theming (i know In League with Dragons has some elements of TTRPG theming but its tenuous on several tracks). records dont HAVE to have extremely strong thematic or subject throughlines, but i really like it when they do so it makes me really happy to see it executed as well as it is here, because the machismo cinema vibes drip from every single track.
Wage War, Get Rich, Die Handsome is absolutely still the standout track here – anthemic, soaring, and tight as hell, this is the backbone of the record. you gotta go for the gold and flame out, baby.
i can’t believe Guys On Every Corner wasnt on my faves list last time – it is very much a serious song but conceptually theres an element of comical exaggeration in the lyrics that i find delightful. Bones Don’t Rust, too, grew on me for sure.
i think my opinions havent changed too dramatically here, ive just grown an appreciation for some of the other elements of the record.
Bleed Out – 9/10
faves – Training Montage, Wage Wars Get Rich Die Handsome, Extraction Point, Bones Don’t Rust, Guys On Every Corner
dislikes –
next week we’ll be finishing off the discography with a record that came out while i was working on these reviews: Jenny From Thebes
support the band by checking this album out on Bandcamp!
the beginning: Zopilote Machine | previous: Dark In Here | next: Bleed Out
all my reviews for The Mountain Goats
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