Album Review: Red of Tooth & Claw
A Critical Look at Murder by Death's New Fourth CD
The newest album by Indiana indie-rock band Murder by Death, Red of Tooth and Claw is yet another concept album, based this time around a sinner's tale of revenge. Unfortuantely, Red of Tooth and Claw fails to give the new, constantly developing sound that the band is most well-recognized for and ends up being a rather boring semi-sequel to their previous album (also conceptual) In Bocca al Lupo.
Murder by Death has gone through a considerable amount of evolution since their 2002 debut Like the Exorcist, but More Breakdancing. At first, the band had a generic gothic sound which tended to plague them. However, their newest two albums (In Bocca al Lupo and Red of Tooth and Claw) have adopted an attitude that can only be described as Cursive meets Johnny Cash with lots of anger and visceral imagery. Their albums have—for the most part—evolved dynamically and allowed the band to try new things while keeping the same vaguely haunting sound they were based on.
Unfortunately, the only real sign of evolution in Red of Tooth and Claw is the ever-deepening of lead singer/lead guitarist Adam Turla’s voice. The album, released March 4th on Vagrant Records, is an unfortunate step back for Murder by Death. It tells a good story and has a few ingenius moments, but these are mostly surrounded by mediocrity.
The Cons: Repetative Cello-Punk and Unimaginative Concept Album
Sarah Balliet’s cello is still haunting and beautiful, and the band goes through the motions, but this album just feels like a slightly darker version of In Bocca al Lupo. Turla described Red of Tooth and Claw as “a Homer’s Odyssey of revenge, only without the honorable character at the center,” which is far from a new concept coming from Murder by Death. The band has displayed a prevalent fetish with cheats, liars and sinners in their other albums, which were also all concept albums.
Unfortunately, the music quality does not make up for the unoriginal concept. Boring, static punk guitar riffs are prevalent in just about every track on this album; they mostly serve as background noise to Turla’s disjointed attempts at storytelling. Instead of developing the interesting parts of the gothic-Western sound the band displayed in their previous albums, it seems that Murder by Death has decided to go in the direction of the tried, true, and tiring cello-punk scene.
The Pros: 'Fuego!' and 'Spring Break 1899'
Red of Tooth and Claw does have high points, but they are few and far between. ‘Fuego!’ does not entirely live up to its quick implications—not that this is a bad thing. Instead of being fast-paced and fiery, the song is a cello ballad which is highly reminiscent of previous albums. This is an exciting change of pace, but unfortunately this tempo change is muddied by Turla’s poor lyrics, specifically the insipid chorus of “I-I-I-I want you.” The next song, ‘Theme (for Ennio Morricone)’, is a slow and moving instrumental that is determined to fix the mistakes of ‘Fuego!’ and is probably the most dynamic song on the album.
Although the closing track, ‘Spring Break 1899’, reveals a disgusting conclusion, the song is a welcome change of pace for reasons other than good imagery. This closer is a near-waltz that allows the album to end on a note that can only be described as breathtaking. If Murder by Death could have achieved such a thrill on the other ten tracks, this album would not have missed its mark. Unfortunately, a large portion of the other tracks sound exactly the same, and the only thing left to distinguish Murder by Death from the punk band playing in your neighbor’s garage is the now-hackneyed cello.
5.5/10. Red of Tooth and Claw is a mostly-generic album that relies on an admittedly beautiful cello and worn out concepts to take it on roads Murder by Death has been down many times before. The album is also more calculated, and when their live shows are taken into account, it seems this is a trend for the band.
Red of Tooth and Claw cover
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