For those of you who have to tap into the Washington-based quartet, The Oregon Donor, you need to pick up this disc. With just the right mix of thrash and melody, wildly unpredictable, yet fluid chord-progressions, and groovy hooks (like early Incubus/late A.F.I. – with smart-sounding, indecipherable lyrics, to boot), Pageant’s End will leave one’s inner-Pacific-Northwesterner thirsting for more. While not nearly as experimental as their Washingtonian brethren, Modest Mouse, and vacillating a bit between genres, The Oregon Donor offers up an extremely polished second LP.
The opening track “Pagent” comes in slow, like a shy kid with glasses, but then caresses you with self-assured melody in between head-nodding drum thrusts and extremely satisfying hooks. The rest of the album picks up speed, signaled by the not-quite-primal “Whoo!” at the beginning of “Hostages,” hastening in cadence, but never really losing touch with the proggy guitar loops and emo-disguised-as-screamo vocals that necessitate that these tracks be replayed.
The middle tracks are not-even-close-to skippable, yet sound as if they are leading up to the penultimate twosome. “In Dogs We Trust” is salient, drowsing of outsider, Nyquill-breathed lament at its outset, yet turning strangely self-affirming – “I realize that I’ve never been alone” – leaving you guessing as to the songwriter’s true discontent. The next track, “What Good Hate Did,” peremptorily resolves this matter, finally bringing home the savagery that’s been waiting to break loose throughout the album, yet still not letting go of the soaring, circular auricularity that makes you want to feel it too. “The Bittersweet End” closes things, initially losing some of the momentum of the previous two numbers, with lyrics such as “We couldn’t care less about the applause/Cause the kids were dressed in their apathy,” but ending on a build, hopefully to be continued in the band’s future works. The Oregon Donor is a band with something to lend—Ears? Hearts? A state of mind? [By: Sean Phelan]
Rating: 4.75/5
Release Date: October 6, 2009

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