Label: City Slang (Europe)/ Ernest Jenning Record Co (USA) Format: CD
O‘Death’s stated intention with Broken Hymns, Limbs and Skin was to capture the energy of their live sets on record, and anyone who has seen one of O’Death’s riotous shows will know that this is a hell of a tall order. The resulting album is a gypsy stomp barn burner, a chaotic celebratory oom-pah punk sea shanty set to wailing fiddles and crashing shards of scrap metal, an emotional hoe-down encompassing howling angst and Jesus-jumping ecstasy and whisky swagger. As for freezing an O’Death show and printing it on three and a half inches of plastic, this is about as close as you’re going to get.
Granted, at the moment we’re not exactly short of artists who earn their crust exploring the dark underbelly of Appalachia. In fact, I’m beginning to wonder if Appalachia is anything but dark underbelly. But Broken Hymns puts O’Death up there with the best of their field. On the more contemplative numbers, Greg Jamie’s vocals have a fragile wisdom reminiscent of Neil Young or Will Oldham; however it’s when the band ratchets its trademark fervour up to snake-handling levels, and he’s howling hooks like a horsewhipped demon, that’s when O’Death really come into their own. Not so much toe-tapping catchy as foot-stomping epidemic, this is an album you could lock yourself away with all winter, provided you had a few buckets of bourbon and a fiddle.
-Anton Allen-
