Murder By Death - In Bocca al Lupo Review
Posted by Mitch Michaels on 06.08.2006
Sin, Suffering, Punishment & Forgiveness…
My Story
I had never actually heard Murder By Death until listening to this new record. I had heard of the band, however, as they're currently running a co-headlining tour with alt-country/rock act Lucero, one of my current favorite groups. By this association, I was hoping for an interesting listening experience from In Bocca al Lupo.
Their Story
Murder By Death formed in their hometown of Bloomington, IN at the end of the 90's, at first under the name Little Joe Gould. Founding members include vocalist/guitarist Adam Turla, bassist Matt Armstrong, drummer Alex Schrodt, cellist Sarah Balliet and keyboardist Vincent Edwards. The band was a rarity for its time and place, a combination of post-hardcore/punk guitar noise and Bad Seeds/Dirty Three inspired cello and keyboard work. Throw in a very southern gothic songwriting sensibility, and you have a truly strange (hit or miss) brew. Little Joe Gould self-released their debut self-titled EP in 2001 and began touring extensively. A mutual show caught the eye of Thursday frontman Geoff Rickly, who became instrumental in securing the band their first recording contract with Eyeball Records. Like The Exorcist but More Breakdancing, LJG's first full length album, arrived in 2002. The quirky, sometimes melancholy concept album drew the band favorable comparisons to folks like Tom Waits, Centro-Matic and even a bit of Radiohead.
Following a long tour for Like The Exorcist, Little Joe Gould headed back to the studio to record their second record for Eyeball, but decided that the band's name just didn't convey the proper sense of foreboding that their music implied. And thus, Murder By Death was born, a name lifted from a Neil Simon play, a murder mystery parody that also became a movie in the mid-70's.
The newly dubbed Murder By Death's first album was Who Will Survive and What Will Be Left Of Them?, a concept album (produced by Rickly) that continued the spooky, strange feel of their earlier work. The disc's underlying thread was the story of the devil coming to a Mexican town, and the war that ensued between him and the villagers. Heady stuff, to be sure.
Who Will Survive started out slow, but began picking up speed, saleswise, as MBD toured with popular acts like Interpol and The Get Up Kids throughout 2004. Founding member Vincent Edwards split from the band that year, as did his short-lived replacement Brandon Cooper. With Cooper's exit, the band decided to have cellist Sarah Balliet pull double duty on keys as they headed back into the studio for their third album. This new album would be released on the band's own label, Tent Show, and scored a big victory when it gained distribution by indie consortium New West Records.
The Album
On May 23, 2006, Tent Show Records released Il Bocca al Lupo (Italian for "In The Mouth Of The Wolf"), the third full-length album by Murder By Death (and second under the MBD name). The album was produced by J Robbins along with the band.
The Band: 6.5
Sarah Balliet: cello, keys
Adam Turla: guitar, vocals
Matt Armstrong: bass
Alex Schrodt: drums, percussion
Murder By Death plays very well together, and their sound is a great combination of backwoods acoustic menace and straight-ahead, rockabilly leaning alt rock. Sarah Balliet is more than commendable in her twin roles as keyboardist and cellist, providing eerie atmosphere to spare. Someone has obviously been studying her Nick Cave records. Matt Armstrong is also great on the bass, providing these hollow-sounding fills in places that just nail that underlying macabre current that runs through this entire album.
The band's biggest detriment, unfortunately, is Adam Turla's vocal work. Though he can sound inspired at times, imagine the Reverend Horton Heat with less presence, and you pretty much know the bulk of Turla's vocals. The man wears his influences on his sleeve, no doubt, with obvious nods to folks like Johnny Cash and Jim Morrison, but he just doesn't have a commanding enough voice to pull it off. Actually, he shines most when he lets his vocals degenerate into a less controlled wail, more akin to what you'd expect to hear on an album that sounds like this, like he does on the song "Sometimes The Line Walks You". There's a serviceable frontman lurking in Turla, but it doesn't pop out often enough on this CD.
J Robbins, a very prolific punk producer, does a great job of capturing Murder By Death's feel and presence on this album, but it definitely has a distinct studio quality that some bands that are so, well, live, can't usually pull off. So kudos to Robbins and MBD. The addition of horns on some tracks is also welcome, adding a funereal ambiance that goes right along with some of the more morbid song themes.
Though there are some big problems, like Turla's weak vocal delivery, this album really does sound great, and with some tweaking and work, Murder By Death definitely has a sound that could break out in a huge, cult classic type way.
The Songs: 7.0
1. Boy Decide
2. One More Notch
3. Dead Men And Sinners
4. Brother
5. Dynamic Mine
6. The Organ Grinder
7. Sometimes The Line Walks You
8. Raw Deal
9. The Big Sleep
10. Shiola
11. Steam Rising
12. The Devil Drives
While Murder By Death's previous albums have been specifically concept albums, In Bocca is more a thematic album, with the underlying themes of sin and punishment holding things together. The band writes some great lyrics and the songs on this album range from creepy dirges like "Brother" to rockers like "Sometimes The Line Walks You" to all-out strangeness like the rowdy sing-a-long sea shanty "Dead Men And Sinners".
Once again, the influences are easy to spot, as "Sometimes The Line Walks You" can't really be anything BUT a nod to the Man In Black. It's a great one, though, and one of my favorite songs on the album. "Raw Deal" and "Steam Rising" are great "punishment" songs, too, slow and menacing. "Shiola" is a standout, as the only semi-uplifting track on the album, dealing with forgiveness. It would be a great closer, but MBD doesn't let you off that easy, instead giving us one last glimpse into hell with the ambling "The Devil Drives".
There are some songs I just don't like. "Boy Decide" is a stinker as an album opener, and "One More Notch" isn't much better. I understand that they flow better, thematically, but you can't forsake a good album in favor of your vanities. "Dynamite Mine" has potential, but it falls sadly short of its goal of being a great song and manages to only be a semi-creepy story. If In Bocca Al Lupo has a major flaw it's that too many songs are given this (non-)treatment.
Still, there are some diamonds in this mine, and it doesn't take a pick axe to find them.
The 411: Murder By Death are built on the southern gothic sensibilities of folks like Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and Johnny Cash and the punk rock of contemporaries like Thursday and Rev. Horton Heat. Though their vocals are weak at times, the songs themselves are well written and have spooky atmosphere in spades. With a little more focus on their strengths, Murder By Death no doubt have a great album in them. In Bocca al Lupo isn’t that album, but it has its moments of brilliance and is worth a listen as long as you know what you’re getting into. You might dig it.
