Friday, May 14 2010 10:00 PM
21+ $15.00
Lincoln Hall
Though they've had eight years to refine their sound and vision, Murder By Death rolled out of the gates fully realized in 2000, playing a blend of rocking Americana noir and dramatic post-punk that erased old style and audience boundaries as much as it tested the limits of new ones. And with their fourth album and Vagrant debut, Red Of Tooth And Claw (3/4/08), the Bloomington, Indiana, quartet are emerging as true artists in the zero-boundary sense: cinematic storytellers whose albums come together in an essential whole, and players whose jaw-dropping performances on record make you yearn for the chance to experience their energy up close and in person.
As much as the band’s previous full-lengths—2002's Like The Exorcist, But More Breakdancing; 2003’s Who Will Survive, And What Will Be Left Of Them?; and 2006’s In Bocca Al Lupo—document this evolution, Red Of Tooth And Claw finds Murder By Death at the height of their powers. Recorded with Grammy-winning producer Trina Shoemaker (Queens Of The Stone Age, Emmylou Harris, Iggy Pop) at Dark Horse studios in Tennessee, the album captures the drama and nuance of MBD’s sound without compromising a lick of the band’s energy. And as longtime followers of their narrative grit—equal parts Old West drama and Old Testament justice—will be glad to know, MBD’s subject matter also hasn’t softened for album No. 4. Rife with lust, betrayal, and classical archetypes of good and evil, Red Of Tooth And Claw is, as singer/guitarist Adam Turla puts it, a "Homer’s Odyssey of revenge, only without the honorable character at the center."
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