Blitzen Trapper: Destroyer of the Void

The posse from Portland produced one of 2008's best albums, so I was amped for Destroyer of the Void, released back at the start of June.  At first listen, I was disappointed with Void, but I continued to spin the record and it grew on me.

Perhaps what threw me off my [listening] game was the album's title track -- its opening track.  In a Plants-and-Animals vein, the song contains three (or four) separate song melded into one:

After getting over the fact that it struck me as a non-Blitzen-Trapper-type song, I was able to appreciate it.  Overall, Void strikes a balance between the helter-skelter compositions of Wild Mountain Nation and -- a bit to my chagrin -- the head-bangable tunes of Furr.

Lyrically, Void has several sci-fi or fantasy-based songs.  BT's lead singer/songwriter, Eric Earley, has explained that he's a fan of fantasy and sci-fi literature, but I've previously enjoyed Earley the most when he's offering folk tunes about murders (Furr's "Black River Killer").  On Void, Earley combines fantasy and folk, telling stories about or a man whose tongue turned into a flower in "The Man Who Would Speak True" (Void's version of "Furr"?) or a space/time-traveling family man in "The Tailor":

Grade: B

Blurb: A solid effort and a good album, but the absence of the rock-and-rollicking good times from Furr makes it feel like a step backward.