[Ed. Note: Every once in a while we all (might) come across a song or two that are pretty much great, but are completely out of whack with the rest of the album they appear on. The band has its signature sound, and the song in question may have a similar mood, true, but still, where in the holy hell did it come from? What kind of crazy serum did they take before laying it to tape? Well. Let’s examine.]
Before Murder by Death was a darkly rambunctious, Johnny Cash-ing indie rock band, they were just kind of a dark indie rock band. This was before piano player Vincent Edwards left, and before the group began to drink more whiskey and beat up more cowboys for starin’ at ’em all weird-like. Basically.
Anyway, the band’s first full-length — Like The Exorcist, But More Breakdancing — is largely slow and brooding, and even the catchiest song, “I’m Afraid of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf,” isn’t particularly a grin-fest. And then there’s the standout of the album, the Odd Track Out, as it were: “Those Who Left.” Taking up residence as the penultimate track, it’s an epic instrumental clocking in at 8:25, the longest on the album by two minutes. Now, the mood in this song is comparable to the rest of the album, but the radical difference is in the construction of the track. It doesn’t stick to any obvious method — no quiet/loud dynamic here — but it still gets pretty quiet, and it still gets really loud. The half-backgrounded screams that complement the end volley of cymbal crashes, darting piano, and squealing guitar come out of absolutely nowhere, but still fit perfectly. (I don’t believe you’ll hear anything else resembling a scream on the entirety of the album.)
So listen to it, and decide yourself. I’ve included another track from the album for comparison’s sake (and it’s a damn good song in it’s own right.) And this post wasn’t particularly funny, so here’s the most re-watchable video ever.
Murder by Death – “Those Who Left” [MP3]
Murder by Death – “I’m Afraid of Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” [MP3]
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