But Darnielle’s been releasing music for 26 years, in which time he’s put out 43 albums, and over 525 songs. I suppose after releasing what must add up to hours, even days, of musical genius, there’s bound to be a dud or two somewhere in there.

As hard as it is for me to accept, “Goths” is that dud.

The 12-track, 55-minute musical journey describes the short-lived, 80’s goth scene in California. Darnielle dives into different ideas about how sub-cultures such as the goths can emerge, grow in popularity, and then fade into oblivion all within what feels like the blink of an eye. He draws on his own experience as a former goth, making the lyrics of the album real and personal.

While I thought the concept of the album was interesting and promising, I found myself disappointed by the sound.

Back in 1991, Darnielle started his musical career by recording songs in his bedroom with a cheap boombox in between shifts as a nurse. Darnielle was not very technically skilled at guitar, but he strummed the acoustic with passion while he sang his heart out. Because of the low production, the budding songwriter relied only on his amazing lyrical abilities and true love for music to lead him to recognition.

By now, Darnielle has had plenty of exposure to elaborate production. Since gaining studio access, he’s always been able to find a good balance between being too lo-fi and becoming too polished. But Darnielle shook things up on “Goths” and the album suffered because of it.

There were two musical changes in particular that truly disappointed me on this album.

The first one was Darnielle’s decision not to use any guitars on the record.

Again, my bias is showing. I love the guitar. I’ve played since I was 7. I think it’s a gorgeous instrument, and folk music is traditionally built on it. And I’m all for breaking musical barriers, but I don’t see any reason for a band to exclude their staple instrument just for the sake of change. Darnielle’s music was built on the 12-string, and listening to almost an hour of the Mountain Goats without hearing a single guitar note just made me feel like the album was missing something.

The synthetic keyboards and wind instruments he used to replace the trusty old guitar, although they were calming and beautiful, sounded hollow in my ears.

However much I missed the guitar, there were some great instrumental moments on the album, like the quirky brass sounds on “Paid in Cocaine,” or the beautiful, spacey, wind-chimey instrumentals on “Andrew Eldritch is Moving Back to Leeds.”

At the very least, if there were some rhythm guitars on the album, then I think the instruments would actually be quite exceptional on this record; the melodies were well composed, they just sounded somewhat artificial to me.

The other, bigger issue I took with this record was Darnielle’s consistently relaxed, lo-fi vocal delivery.

I am a huge believer that you don’t have to be a very technically skilled musician to make exceptional music. Passion, and the ability to convey it through song, is what separates good musicians from great ones.

In contrast to other Mountain Goats records, I feel that Darnielle failed to elicit an emotional response through his vocal delivery. Even while singing very meaningful words, Darnielle stayed relaxed and unpassionate. The effect is calming, but boring. It makes lines that should be memorable fade into long, winding verses, leaving casual listeners emotionally unmoved.

It’s a real shame, because Darnielle is so talented. His passionate yells on earlier records convey emotion while remaining beautiful in a way that few artists can.

Although his vocal performance is underwhelming, Darnielle features some great lyrics on the record, if you’re willing to pay attention to them. Even seemingly silly tracks like “Unicorn Tolerance” have good meanings, like the incessant desire to fit in and seem cool, when underneath you are still a soft, scared little boy with “high unicorn tolerance.”

Ultimately, as hard as it is for me to admit, I was disappointed by “Goths.” That’s not to say it was a terrible album, but it certainly was not up to Darnielle’s usual standards.

So if you’ve never heard of the Mountain Goats before, I don’t recommend starting off with this record. But please, if you haven’t already, do yourself a huge favor and listen to Darnielle’s 2005 release, “The Sunset Tree,” and enjoy the gorgeous and emotional journey that the Mountain Goats are rightfully known and loved for.