Sackcloth 'N' Ashes
by 16 Horsepower

The album starts off incredibly well but it trails off after the first 4 or 5 songs on terms of quality. Atmospherically, the album is immense and it really transports you to a place and it creates a great soundscape to explore. This is aided by the vocal which matches this perfectly. Instrumentally, it is varied and the playing is very good. The downfall is the consistency of the music with there being quite a few filler tracks and also tracks that are just decent. Overall, an album that is very enjoyable to explore and should definitely be heard more.

This album is just great. The stories that are told, as well as the mood it creates. Listen to the banjo, also to the fretless bass with that brilliant drumming in it's back. And over all the Preacher's voice with all his doubt. It's an absolute classic of alternative music!

From buzzdainer 03/31/2016 22:03 | #163065

My clearest memory of listening to this album is from a cross-country road trip in 2009, when I stopped for a desperately needed break from the highway at a friend's cabin in Strawberry, Arizona. We drank whiskey in his living room and listened to this album on these huge, incredible speakers he'd set up. Holy crap. This is some of the spookiest, reverb-heavy guitar and banjo lines you'll ever hear. The wild ravings of a madman. Great Gothic Americana.

Within a few seconds I realized that this is not only what I wanted, but what I needed.

I am an honest man when I‘m not lying…

Nothing plays better than the doomed but repentant sinner man feverishly begging to have his sins absolved. The sinner who firmly believes in hell but is dammed there anyways by his hunger & compulsions to fill that emptiness inside him with cards, whores, and the bottle. Just one drop he says, to slacken my thirst. Sackcloth conjures stories so effectively they have me thinking in black & white, images of a pentecostal preacher man, whiskey stills, and Faulkner dancing in my head. There’s a mad off kilter ferocity at play here. Like they could go off the reservation at any moment. But, they don’t. Now if I can only track me down some Bakers bourbon in this god forsaken, urban morass known as Kuala Lumpur to help “take me home” with him.

This ain’t no Alt Country, boy. This here is American Gothic.

From Gooz 06/04/2014 17:58 | #113723

I'm surprised about how it isn't more known. Amazing songs.

From meccalecca 05/05/2014 14:51 | #110888

You've been followed to the desert by gang of questionable men on horses, the sun is setting, and only five bullets remain in your pistol.

From NickVolos 03/24/2014 13:08 | #107384

Banjo-rebel-outlaw-rock... Never thought banjo as an instrument could assert itself so powerfully.

AND IF I DIEEEE BY YOUR HAND, I GOTTA HOME, IN GLORY LAND! YEAH!

Best album in the world. Or at least one of the best.