Murder By Death - Who Will Survive, and What Will Be Left of Them

Eyeball Records
2003

Holy shit has it really been 7 years since this album came out? Damn.

Anyways, It's almost October. I think I'll spend most of October talking about records I like to listen to in the fall or around Halloween.

This record is perfect for this time of year. I mean, first off it's about the Devil taking over this town by the Mexican border or some shit. There's all sorts of western imagery in there, coupled with a song about zombies and all of this awesome gory stuff that makes this record awesome. It's the perfect record to put on after watching an episode of Deadwood before you go out to the bar and it's great to drink whiskey to. It's great to drive around to. I was listening to it last night at work and I was like "Yup. It's that time of year again"

This was the last really good record this band put out. It combines Adam Turla's great storytelling ability with the fuller sound this band had before the guy who played keyboards went back to art school. It sucks that I have to say that, because people I've talked to like that other record In Bocca al Lupo. I don't know, the songs off that record sound like something's missing, and the live performance sure as hell sounds like some shit's missing too.

I've seen this band perform live several times. Each time I was really disappointed by the fact that all I could hear was the guitar and the bass. No piano, nothing from the hot cellist. Hell it was hard to hear the drums sometimes! I will say that the best show was probably fall of 2004 at the Granada. They opened with "The Devil in Mexico" and then basically played through all of this record while there were these clips from horror films playing above them. It was too awesome.

Anyways, I'm listening to "Masters in Reverse Psychology" right now, and I'd love to talk about this record more and how many memories are tied to it and how much I like it, but I have to go back to work soon. I really want to listen to it and drink whiskey sometime this weekend. Maybe Friday? Who knows, I'll keep you posted.

4 out of 5 steering wheels.