Destroyer Of The Void
If you don’t know Blitzen Trapper, then the album title Destroyer Of The Void is probably rather misleading. This is not a doom metal band, but a folk infused rock group with heavy leanings towards the pop-rock of the 1960s. Their last album, 2008’s Furr, is perhaps now my favourite album of that year (I discovered it in January 2009 – hence its absence from my 2008 list), and the band were superb when I saw them live at the start of 2010. So Destroyer Of The Void was high up on my list of ‘must haves’ for the year. Unfortunately, like many albums on this year’s list, it isn’t as good as its predecessor. Having said that, Destroyer Of The Void is still an excellent record (which is better than any of Blitzen Trapper’s releases before Furr). It is full of hidden gems to uncover. The 60s/early 70s influence is perhaps more obvious here than on Furr, with clear nods going to (good-era) David Bowie (various-eras of) The Beatles and (the only era of) Cream. ‘The Man Who Would Speak True’ tells, as the name suggests, a tale highlighting the foolishness of honesty, ‘Sadie’ muses on how people never really change, and ‘The Tree’ continues a long running theme of the band’s work: the link between man and nature. Best of all is the lovely ‘Evening Star’. Blitzen Trapper have now reached a stage of such fluency that everything here feels extremely classy. The band has the right mix of pop hooks, intelligent lyrics and musical proficiency which should mean they’re huge. Maybe commercial success is still to come, but there’s been no real sign of it so far. A real must have album. Unless you don’t have Furr yet. In which case you need that first.
No comments:
Post a Comment