Second, I'd never heard of the Murder City Devils before I was asked to review this CD.
That said, the album was quite an experience for me.
As the liner notes explain, this album is the end of a long tour by the band, and they're ending it in Seattle, Wash., where they started.
I can't tell you if this live sound is indicative of the band's albums, nor can I attest to whether this album is a good example of the band's concerts.
During this last tour in 2001, the liner notes explain that the band lost its keyboardist, and its bassist said he was leaving to pursue other things.
This makes this concert album one heck of a rare moment in music: a band's last gig.
I could be fooling myself, but I think you can hear the sadness and catharsis in this dark punk band's swan song. Singer Spencer Moody is a mixture of a real screamer with some cool-guy laid-back drawl a la the original singer for Faith No More (remember the song "We Care a Lot"?). He refuses to let up, pushing harder and harder, with his band pitching in, and all of them pitching forward. You can almost imagine them all playing their instruments at an angle, trying to get as hard and far as they can without tipping over in gravity's pull.
Of course, that doesn't mean these guys are great musicians. There are few clever flourishes on guitar, little beat deviation from the drummer, etc. See the liner notes: "As we went through our last tour knowing that this record was going to be made, with posterity in mind we had a slogan. It was a joke, but it was a slogan: 'Good musicianship never goes out of style.' Well, we had one shot, and we blew it." Still, they shouldn't be too hard on themselves. The world isn't made up of genius musicians and always-compelling storytellers: It's made up of musicians who tried really hard and storytellers who sometimes amused people. It's not mediocrity they embody, because mediocre is such an ugly adjective, implying that no one's impressed. But I'M impressed. The creative drive is impressive. And here it's in full flow …
If you can get into the vibe here, with almost-spoken-word tunes over a layer of distorted guitars and rock drums — "Bear Away," "One Vision of May" — with more listenable songs employing their fill-in keyboardist — "Midnight Service at the Mutter Museum," "Press Gang" — well, you'll be rewarded with a grunting heave of howling (literally, sometimes), sometimes dance-able punk rock with a vaguely Goth-kid edge. I can't imagine Pennywise fans in the audience, but I can see those 6'2" guys who wear all black and scare other Goth kids into the bathroom during a set.
Non sequitur love note for a track: A guest female vocalist pitches in for some feminine grace in "Boom Swagger," which I think would make one hell of a Rob Zombie song if Rob Zombie wasn't so damn overproduced and electronic. "Boom Swagger" is the sort of anthem that the cool walking dead would pump their fists to as they drool incessantly and look for fresh brains.
Also, considering the raucous, noisome style of the band, it's a testimony to good sound engineering that the album's parts are pretty differentiated from out of what could have been a big sludgy pit of sound.
In any case, if you like that sort of punk that men with mascara and belts with studs listen to, this is up your alley. But don't dismiss this one because it's not your cup of tea: The album's existence itself is an experience, the very last gig of the very last tour for a band you may never have heard of, but you may never forget.
Murder City Devils R.I.P.
