Rating: NNNN
Scrappy Seattle combo Murder City Devils have two advantages over their pedal-to-the-metal rock comrades: Spencer Moody’s tortured rasp, which never falls below a holler, and Leslie Hardy’s organ grooves, which add a sinister edge to the Devils’ gothic tales of good people in very bad situations.
While the group’s bloodthirsty attack on two bizarre cover choices (Neil Diamond and Burt Bacharach, no less) points to their deviant urges, the songs’ very inclusion suggests that beneath the Devils’ murderous veneer beat the hearts of kids who just want to rock your world. Mission accomplished.