After adding Devin Holt on second guitar and drummer David Dobbs, who was shortly thereafter replaced by Zach Stine, Pallbearer recorded and self-released a three-song demo in 2010.

Pallbearer's 2014 album, Foundations of Burden was recorded and produced by Billy Anderson at Type Foundry Studio in Portland, Oregon.

[5] Heartless marked the band moving away from their traditional metal and doom roots, with the album demonstrating grunge, classic rock, and prog influences such as The Smashing Pumpkins, Camel, Pink Floyd, Kansas, and Brian Eno.

PopMatters, in reviewing the album, wrote "Pallbearer reaches universality previously hit by artists like the Beatles on Abbey Road or Pink Floyd at their most explorative.

[7] Acknowledging the band's expanding appeal and sonic horizons, Rees described Pallbearer as "one of the most resonant emotional campaigns in American rock music."