quickcrit - music reviews

The Builders and the Butchers are back with a fantastic new album that's even better than their last one. Salvation Is A Deep Dark Well still sounds like a bunch of guys drinking and playing music at the end of a dirt road, but the songs are tighter and more fully developed. They've also added more slightly variation between and within the songs this time. Over all, as fun as the last album was, this one is just more dynamic and exciting. The Spanish trumpet blasts on "Barcelona" sounded just as good as when I heard them live a couple weeks ago. From the opening "Golden And Green" it's apparent that the themes of doom, destruction, and the Devil still possess their thoughts, but again that only seems to fuel their frenzied Gothic roots rock. I particularly love the twisted imagery and stop-start beat of "Devil Town" and portentous sing-along of "In The Branches". But really, everything here is great.