Saturday, June 12, 2010

#098 Blitzen Trapper - Destroyer of the Void

Wild Mountain nation was my 27th favorite album of the decade, Furr less so. And now:

The problem with Furr was that it was so...conventional. It was such a regression after Wild Mountain Nation's excessive adventurousness, like they'd been thrown from a horse. Here we see them starting to get back on, but chastened by the fall.

The lightly proggy opener heralds some interesting turns: one song that sounds like Queen's The Prophet's Song, and another that sounds exactly like the post-Gabriel-pre-collapse Genesis gem A Trick of the Tail. Its a curious set of influences, but in way its completely natural - reconciling experimentation and classical influences is what prog's all about, and here we see a middle ground between Blitzen Trapper's folk roots and angular cowboy-psych-freakouts. The other major influence is BT's own Black River Killer, which lends its spare beat and near-rap drawl delivery to no less than two songs here.

I think it could be a grower. It will never reach WMN's bewildering highs, but probably benefits from the more consistent pacing. The reference points being so glaring might be distracting though (something I never got over with Clues) - we'll see 4/5

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