Destroyer of the Void

by Blitzen Trapper

Overview

Blitzen Trapper's fifth full-length album opens with the Portland, OR-based sextet's most challenging song to date, a sprawling six-minute prog rock epic that will draw forth from the lips of critics words like Queen, Bowie, ELO, Tull, and Beatles. Technically impressive and immaculately arranged and performed, "Destroyer of the Void" removes the kitchen sink from the equation early in the record, which helps pave the way for Destroyer of the Void, the album, to unfold. Frontman Eric Earley's obvious love of the Beach Boys, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, and Neil Young hangs like a fog over the Void, and his reliance on redemptive, outlaw, and biblical imagery often feels like Nick Cave and 16 Horsepower without the torrential brimstone. Album highlights arrive in the form of murder ballads ("The Man Who Would Speak True"), lush desert hymns ("Heaven and Earth"), and Doors-inspired highway rockers ("Dragon's Song"), all of which feel lived in and appropriately sepia-toned. ~ James Christopher Monger

Product Details

Release Date:	06/08/2010
Label:	Sub Pop
UPC:	0098787082524
Rank:	101313

Tracks

1. Destroyer of the Void
2. Laughing Lover
3. Below the Hurricane
4. The Man Who Would Speak True
5. Love and Hate
6. Heaven and Earth
7. Dragon's Song
8. The Tree
9. Evening Star
10. Lover Leave Me Drowning
11. The Tailor
12. Sadie

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Blitzen Trapper   Primary Artist
Alela Diane   Primary Artist,Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)
Kelly Meyer   Strings
Kate O'Brien-Clarke   Strings
Heather Woods Broderick   Strings,Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Peter Broderick   String Arrangements
Mike Coykendall   Engineer,Mixing
Eric Earley   Producer,Design,Composer,Artwork
Gregg Williams   Engineer
Heather Woods Broderick   String Arrangements
Dusty Summers   Design
Michael Van Pelt   Mixing
Liliana Adams-Villatoro   Artwork