We’ll All Be Forgiven
An extremely long time ago, someone posed the question, “What’s in a name?” The implication is that what you see or hear isn’t always what you get. There could be no more apt way to begin a piece about Indiana group Murder By Death.
My spouse (she hates the term “common-law”) and I were arguing a couple of nights ago about what exactly to call Murder By Death. When most people hear the name they assume it’s some kind of hardcore or metal band, maybe something akin to Killswitch Engage or Ice Nine Kills. If you’ve heard their work, however, you know that nothing could be further from the truth.
The group takes their name from a very, very old Peter Sellers movie. While that was a comedic take on the noir/murder mystery genre, the noir feel of old cinema plays a very key role in this band’s earlier recordings. While their first LP under the name was a bit scattershot, the group really took a huge step forward on 2003’s Who Will Survive and What Will be Left of Them?, an epic tale of an old Western town where you only drink whiskey from a jar and gunfights are de rigeur. The story of the album sees the devil blow into town and destroy just about everything and everyone…and what comes next.
Since then they haven’t looked back. 2006’s In Bocca Al Lupo (Italian for “In The Mouth Of The Wolf”) is their masterwork so far, inspired by Dante’s the Divine Comedy. Taking a page out of the Johnny Cash vocal delivery manual, signer/guitarist Adam Turla is all but taken over by the Man In Black’s spirit, as his once-meager-sounding vocals swell to superhuman size. His baritone is 100% Cash-ian on tracks like “Shiola” and “the Big Sleep,” old-timey laments on having done wrong, being caught, and paying the consequences (the lyrics of the latter detail a “shoe box full of money, of which I never earned a dime” buried beneath a pine tree that the protagonist advises his family use to start over after he’s put to death). That album also contained two songs that heavily foreshadow their newest release as well: “Sometimes The Line Walks You” and “Brother” combine modern rock and roll drums, outlaw country, and, in the former, a prison-break tale as old as Steve McQueen himself, making for a rollicking and frenzied package.
That template serves the band well on the recently-released Red of Tooth and Claw, where the order of the day seems to be murder ballads (though some are a little too up-tempo to be called ballads). From the lead track (“I’m comin’ home/and there ain’t nothing you can do”) to “A Second Opinion” (“If the right shows mercy/I’ll use the left hand”) to the pounding “’52 Ford” (“My mind was set and no one could know/the girl had to go”), the record is filled with sinister intentions. Even the unexpected sex-jam “Fuego” simmers with the heat of an underlying sense of danger mixed with wonton passion.
Passion of different kind is another of the band’s trademarks. The performances on the last two albums are so overwhelmingly powerful it’s a little hard to comprehend. So often when recording in studios a band sacrifices energy and enthusiasm in favour of clean, polished cuts, but Murder By Death’s playing literally gives me chills. Multiple times a record, even. It’s that heart-felt.
But the real ace in the hole is the dense and powerfully melodic cello parts of Sara Balliet. Throughout the band’s catalogue, her playing has added a timeless presence that can equally convey desperation, panic, despair, and remorse. The elegiac “Theme (for Ennio Morricone)” from the new record might be the best example, as the band pays tribute to one of film’s greatest composers through march-line drums and her constant lonesome sawing. It’s a mood-setting device that is drastically underutilized in popular music (though maybe that’s a good thing).
So what do you call Murder By Death? Jenny says rockabilly, but that doesn’t really square with me. I’d almost call it the aural equivalent of Southern Gothic, but I’m not entirely sure that works. Too country to be rock, too rock to be country, not billy enough for rockabilly…your adjective is as good as mine, I suppose. Either way, this group deserves to have people look past what some might consider a poorly-chosen moniker.
Murder By Death - Steal Away [2:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Murder By Death - Rumbrave [3:06m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download Murder By Death - '52 Ford [2:25m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | DownloadMurder By Death is seriously the shit, you guys. Check them out here:
iTunes: pretty much everything
Web store: has a great package deal on all four LP’s
MerchNow: some music, t’s, etc
