By snoadmin
The band name Murder by Death sounds like a really bad Orange County crustcore-murdercore-hardcore band. However, the name is very misleading. Murder by Death is actually one of the best bands to come out of the Bloomington, IN music scene in a long time.
The band is a very dark, folk-rock quartet highlighted by singer Adam Turla, who you could swear was the son of Johnny Cash. And not only is the voice of the band stellar, but the lyrics of each song are very well written stories about tragedy, loss, or redemption.
Unfortunately, the band’s March 13 performance at the Henry Fonda Theater was more tragedy than stellar.
Murder by Death is usually an amazing band on album. But with the March 4 release of its latest album “Red of Tooth and Claw,” Turla’s trademark Cash voice, that had always sounded so sincere and powerful, had morphed into a sound reminiscent of Kermit the frog. I was very interested to see if a live performance would showcase Turla’s Cash-voice or this new distorted version.
What I heard was the latter and Kermit the Cash almost ruined the entire performance for me. Luckily, the band played an awesome set that was comprised of all its best and greatest, which catered to the mostly metal-head audience.
I tried to ignore Turla and focus on the rest of the band, which were all awesome. The cello player, Sarah Balliet, is not only a virtuoso but she also plays the piano very well. And to top it off, she’s mega hot. Every line she played was dead on, and she had the most amazing stage presence, very much like that of Cursive’s cellist, Gretta Cohn.
The bassist, Matt Armstrong, was one of the most exciting in the band. Not only did he hold down the song with solid bass lines, but he added some cool ambient background sounds during the set, which sounded more like it was coming from a synthesizer or an electric guitar mashing up high on the tiny strings.
I had almost forgotten about Turla’s voice completely until he pulled out a guitar with flames cut into the body. He then proceeded to say to everyone “If you don’t like our set, this guitar will shoot lasers at you!” And if that wasn’t indirectly screaming, “I’m a douche bag!” then I don’t know what is.
Overall, Murder by Death was a 7 out of 10. I’d recommend seeing them if you want to see how badass the band (minus the lead singer) is, which is still very entertaining. I plan on seeing them again in May at the Troubadour. I’m willing to give Murder by Death a second chance solely based on the fact its older albums are so solid.
