THE MOUNTAIN GOATS

All Eternals Deck

[Merge]

The title of All Eternals Deck ostensibly refers to a fictional set of Tarot cards, but the Mountain Goats’ latest draws less of its lyrical juice from fortune-telling than from scientific inquiry and the lives of faded Hollywood stars—as befits idiosyncratic singer and songwriter John Darnielle. It’s the latest in a continued evolution away from Darnielle’s one-man, lo-fi roots: The Mountain Goats have become a proper rock band with proper rock songs that retain Darnielle’s penchant for striking lyrical imagery and the occasional gut-punch metaphor. He muses at the curse of immortality on opener “Damn These Vampires,” describes the monsters behind mogul masks on “The Autopsy Garland,” draws parallels between modern times and primitive human ancestors on “Sourdoire Valley Song” and dedicates “For Charles Bronson” to … well, you can guess. All Eternals Deck isn’t the band’s most penetrating work, but it is another solid entry in the Mountain Goats’ extensive canon. –Eric R. Danton