Rating:

(Tent Show, 2006) From the very beginning of In Bocca al Lupo, Murder By Death’s second full-length, it’s clear this isn’t a plain ol’ indie rock record. The very first line comes out sounding like Johnny Cash, as many of Adam Turla’s vocals do, and as soon as the music starts, the eastern European influence comes to the forefront. “Boy Decide” rails against a young man that seems to exemplify the stoned slacker that Bill O’Reilly hates so much, and Turla and the rest of the band rock harder than most of the other songs on the album. Part of what makes the European folk influence so apparent is the fact that it’s not always disguised by massive guitar walls and screaming, but such stylized songwriting is hard to cover up anyway. “Brother” tells the weary tale of a man who covers for his brother when the law comes calling, then later tells him “Well I know there’s better brothers, but you’re the only one that’s mine.” The middle duo of songs, “The Organ Grinder” and the Johnny Cash-ian “Sometimes the Line Walks You,” are two of the strongest on the album, both for the excellent lyrics and melodies and for the powerful instrumental tracks. Like most of the album, both songs are dark tales that have at least the aire of violence about them. “The Organ Grinder” only hints at it, but “Sometimes The Line Walks You” is much more explicit about breaking ribs, stabbing people, death in jail cells, and breaking out of said cells. It, like many of Johnny Cash’s songs, is a song about a dangerous man that can actually convince you he exists. Not all the songs work so well, however. A pirate tale named “Dead Men and Sinners,” amusing as it is, never rises above novelty, and songs like “Dynamite Mine” and “One More Notch” aren’t quite engaging enough to be worth the listen. Luckily, the band switches things up a bit on “Raw Deal,” which features a second half wall of shrieking guitars, rumbling bass, and pounding drums that come out of nowhere. It’s especially surprising given the self-imposed genre restraints placed on the rest of the album. In fact, the very next song returns directly to the outlaw storytelling, as a convicted murderer tells the tale of his journey towards “The Big Sleep.” In the end, the deciding factor for any listener will be probably be whether or not this musical sister of Gogol Bordello’s gypsy punk is an intriguing bastard child of indie rock, outlaw country, and Hungarian folk, or just a gimmick. Most of the songs are solid and the lyrics are excellent, but the music on In Bocca al Lupo is too incredibly stylized to ignore.

* 1. Boy Decide

  2. One More Notch

  3. Dead Men And Sinners

* 4. Brother

  5. Dynamite 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

* = recommended tracks

Buy album

– Kevin

This 3-beetsreview was posted on June 7th, 2006. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.