Has a record ever been able to blow a chill through you as you're listening to it? Such ideas get thrown around a lot in the press, but it rarely happens that a sound feels genuinely dangerous. It is rare to get the sort of excitement that comes from hearing something which feels forbidden or genuinely troubled, but those who crave it will find that feel on Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon. Murder By Death's seventh full-length album (first for Bloodshot Records) sees the band finally realizing their reach toward the same sort of theatrical work Robert Moore strove for and presenting it in beautiful, vibrant, desperate, dark and harrowing technicolor.
The aural prickles and dread begin to manifest immediately as “My Hill” eases (if such a term can apply) Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon open. Here, singer/guitarist Adam Turla staggers forth with ominous, almost monotone mope and chilling, a deliriously desperate guitar figure which seems frozen in terror; for most bands, convention would dictate that such an introduction would give way to an explosion of something, but the whole progression just seems frozen and unable to move here. Such a lack of motion proves to be hypnotic in some ways, but an interesting challenge in others. Listeners will want to know where this perceived sonic stand-off goes.
They don't have to wait long.
“Lost River” proves to be the pay-off that listeners needed as the song explodes with trumpets, acoustic guitars, keyboards, drums and a far more animated Turla. Sounding a lot like one might assume Ennio Morricone's film scores would have were they infused with a bit of fantastic alt-rock essence, Murder By Death easily captures the imagination of listeners and holds it as “Lost River” gives way to “Straight At The Sun” (which might be the most spellbindingly turgid number to appear on a record since Mudhoney released “Suck You Dry” in 1992 – and the song still has an acoustic guitar and strings in it), then “Hard World,” “Ditch Lilly,” “The Case Of Eckhart” and “Ramblin'.” In each case, the dramatic instrumental production styles present in the songs – the interplay between the strings, Matt Armstrong's enormous sounding bass, the guitars and Turla's voice – holds them entwined and never lets go. Even the lulls between those aforementioned high points don't really let listeners go, they simply take a moment on each plateau achieved in order to to give listeners a breather before ascending still higher.
By the time the band reaches “Oh, To Be An Animal” in Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon's run-time, there is no other level to which Murder By Death could ascend; those listeners who went with the band from top to bottom through the album will already be reeling in ecstasy, so the band rests and enjoys the warmth they find in “Ghost Fields” and allow the album to close there. Words don't do that end justice really, they couldn't hope to. Part of that has to do with the fact that listeners became so emotionally invested in this record – gave themselves to it so completely and took so much of it into themselves – that it's easy to find themselves mute at the experience; only in listening to and experiencing Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon will one get a true impression of this album. Readers are urged to go, but Bitter Drink, Bitter Moon and just drink it in too – that way, they'll understand. Rest assured too readers, you won't be disappointed.
Artist:
www.murderbydeath.com/
www.myspace.com/murderbydeath
www.facebook.com/MurderByDeath
www.twitter.com/murderbydeath
Album:
Murder By Death is out now. Buy it here on Amazon .
Adam Turla has some serious explaining to do. His voice is getting progressively lower in tone with every album. If you don’t believe me, go to their Myspace and listen to the following songs in order: Like The Exorcist, But More Breakdancing's “I’m Afraid of Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Wolfe,” “Killbot 2000” (off of their 2003 opus Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left Of Them?), “Brother” (from 2006’s In Bocca Al Lupo), and finally “Comin’ Home” from Red Of Tooth and Claw, their latest release. With each one, he seems to grow eight times grizzlier, with his current vocal range sounding like something between Johnny Cash and a motorcycle engine. It’s a baffling pattern, but effectively only makes this album more powerful.
Red Of Tooth And Claw is just as difficult to pin down. It shifts effortlessly between southern blues, alt-country, and punk rock, from the thundering instrumental “Theme (For Ennio Morricone)” to the piano-driven croon “Spring Break 1899” to the morbid latin sneer of “’52 Ford,” the only constant is a heavily atmospheric, rootsy Americana groove. And it’s this intense connection to the noir-ish storytelling heritage of country and blues that really sweeps the listener up. The songs are chock full of murder, intrigue, redemption, irony and self-destruction without shying away from ghost stories and greek myth when the occasion merits. Their first single “Fuego!” summons up sirens to tempt an already sick-with-loneliness narrator, “Baby, it’s been so long that even the rose’s hips are turning me on.” It certainly rewards imagination. In fact, most of their songs go far better when you can submit to escapism and let the narratives take over. “Rum Brave” for instance, introduces an unabashed killer, who claims early on “if I had to do it over, I just would’ve done it slower.”
It’s heartbreaking to me that Murder By Death resides where they do in the modern musical spectrum. This is the sort of storytelling acuity that most songwriters dream of, with a flourish and oomph that most bands attain only by tossing in an extra two rhythm guitars and a second kick drum. Red Of Tooth And Claw demonstrates once again how far ahead of the rock curve MBD is, and still I don’t imagine anyone in the hipster press will give it more than two minutes of a listen between bouts of overwrought excitement over the latest Vampire Weekend remix. Not me, however; I’ll just keep on driving too fast down crowded highways, listening to Murder By Death and imagining a time when “American culture” wasn’t an oxymoron.
For more information vist www.murderbydeath.com or myspace.com/murderbydeath
