BLITZEN TRAPPER – Destroyer of the Void
Marking another notch in the lineage of American folk music, Blitzen Trapper continues to serve as an all-too-modern history lesson on their fifth album, Destroyer of the Void. Taking pages from folk, classic rock, and modern indie rock, Blitzen Trapper doesn’t lose a step from 2008’s Furr, the album that put them on my (and many other peoples’) radar.
Singer Eric Earley’s voice sounds like a mix of Bob Dylan and Tom Petty sharing a microphone; the perfect sound to deliver lines like “Hey babe, don’t cha know it’s all the same/Heaven’s right below the hurricane/And hell’s contained in every single flame.”
Some of my favorite moments from Destroyer of the Void come during the songs’ intros. From the galloping rhythms that rush to meet the Legend of Zelda-esque riff in “Laughing Lover,” to the gorgeous piano run at the start of “Heaven and Earth,” the album is full of great instrumental passages.
Destroyer of the Void is an album ripe with narrative lyrics and musical variety, all marinated in the juices of its ancestors. It picks up where Furr left off and goes even further, creating its own history along the way.
(Sub Pop Records, 2013 4th Avenue, 3rd Floor, Seattle, WA 98121)
