O’Death - Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin Review
Posted by Jesse Coy on 12.02.2008
Ever wonder what a southern punk speed hoedown complete with permanent fiddler would sound like? These guys will show you.
O’Death Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin
November 2008
Kemado Records
1. Low Tide
2. Fire on Peshtigo
3. Legs to Sin
4. Mountain Shifts
5. Vacant Moan
6. A Light That Does Not Dim
7. Grey Sun
8. Home
9. Leininger
10. Crawl Through Snow
11. Ratscars
12. On an Aching Sea
13. Angeline
14. Lean-To
This sounds like southern punk to me. O’Death is like that crazy, somewhat creepy, yet equally fascinating dude from Dixieland who came charging into you during the last concert you attended, a slam tackling you. But then he offers up some of his moonshine, while he spins an incredibly epic yarn, only half of which you understand, yet you can’t walk away from it.
Come on... we’ve all met this type of person, haven’t we?
If you can’t quite conjure up a sound or style from that, I can throw a few bands your way who, if you like their sound or style, O’Death will be for you. You might think the Violent Femmes ala Hallowed Ground (though with a much chunkier electrified sound at times) or Southern Culture on the Skids (humor replaced by unsettling American Gothic). You might think of Primus’ occasionally darker shades or North Carolina’s bluegrass punk crazies, Japonize Elephants. You might even think of some mesmerizing Velvet Underground drumming and some mad “Devil Went Down to Georgia” fiddling. You might think a bit of Tom Waits’ later material.
Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin is the band’s third album. There’s a lot of dark, brooding going on in many of the songs (especially lyrically), with intense bursts or releases, much of that charged with some great fiddling. Maybe it’s two parts dark brooding, such as the grim track, “Fire on Peshtigo,” recounting an 1871 Wisconsin fire, or “Grey Sun,” its chorus one that doesn’t easily leave the listener…
hang the hardship baby, hang the hardship baby, hang the hardship baby…
we go to sleep and then we die
(I just wanted to give everyone some cheerful holiday sentiments).
What was I saying? Two parts dark and brooding, but one part is crazy uplift. For example, there’s “A Light That Does Not Dim,” the drum beat, vocals, and fiddling all coming together in a happy southern punk jamboree. Or even the opener, “Low Tide” (which by the way, immediately sucks you under and into this release)… its fast pace, if not the actual lyrics, brings the listener up. Or “On An Aching Sea,” which at this point, you and that crazy Dixieland dude have gone through most of the moonshine, and are laughing like hyenas, staggering down dark alleys while plotting mad escapades.
You end by happily screaming, shouting, bellowing out that chorus…
I’ve been waiting so long for my judgment… I’ve been waiting so long!
Good stuff…
And I feel a little explanation is required on why some of my recent releases have hit such high grades with me. I don’t freely give out top honors. It’s only that I’ve become very selective on much of what I review. If the sample of what I hear doesn’t really impress me, I don’t waste my time. With O’Death, it was “Low Tide” that I heard. And I really liked that. So if a band’s sole track hooks me, unless it’s not representative of the rest of the album, odds are, I’ll like more of what I hear.
That’s definitely the case here with this excellent release.
The 411: O’Death is very original in its sound, and that’s rare to find nowadays. They have their own voice, as opposed to trying to sound like anyone else out there. It carries through in the songs and the delivery. This one is quite good.
