It's entirely possible the difference is just with me. To me, there's a point where Darnielle embodied his characters so fully that you could believe that he was singing about himself. I see the space between the songwriter and the song more prominently than I used to. It's not positive or negative; it's just…

Man, it seems crazy to me to put Transcendental Youth last.

I was a little underwhelmed on my first listen-through (I think because I tend to connect with Darnielle's characters when they are desperate and unhinged and everything here is very controlled) but this album grown on me significantly over the past few days. For the Portuguese Goth Metal Bands, in particular, is…