Albums by this artist

In Name And Blood (2000)

Murder City Devils

In Name And Blood

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» PIERO SCARUFFI | STAFF WRITER

Murder City Devils In Name And Blood Sub Pop, 2000 RiYL: MC5, Iggy Pop, Black Sabbath, Queens Of The Stone Age

Seattle's Murder City Devils, now shrunken to a six-piece, deliver another little gem of garage rock with In Name And Blood. Whether it's the band's growth, the new, improved keyboard contributions of Leslie Hardy and their gothic overtones, or drummer Coady Willis' powerful, acrobatic drumming, the album sounds like a Greek tragedy set to raw and wild rock and roll.

The mood ranges from depressed to desperate, kicking off with "Press Gang"'s desolate shout on baroque organ lines, picking up speed with "I Drink The Wine"'s loud, frantic and anthemic rave-up, venting sorrowful anger in the heroic chorus of "Idle Hands," abating in the tuneful dirge of "I'll Come Running" (their best ballad ever), rising like a Hawkwind gale in "Demon Brother," and soaring with suicidal teenage hubris on "In This Town."

In so doing, the Devils bridge the gap between Pacific garage rock (Sonics), Detroit's murder bands (MC5, Seattle) and Midwestern harcore (Laughing Hyenas). All of them, and a lonely poet drunk in a pub after midnight, too.

While not as compelling as the Devils' 1998 set Empty Bottles Broken Hearts, In Name And Blood is another inspiring dose of wild rock and roll for the evil-minded. Sure, we've heard these riffs and these refrains hundreds of times in the annals of rock music. It's the passion, the heart, the bleeding, that here gives them new meaning.

PIERO SCARUFFI | Piero Scaruffi runs the exhaustive music database Scaruffi.com. A native of Italy, he has also been praised for his work on the General Theory of Relativity, formal theories of the mind, and artificial intelligence. And no, we aren't making that up.