Lost Dog Street Band : "Weight of a Trigger"

I like country music it is just dark to know where to look to find the kind that is dark enough for me. After all this darker sub-set of it is not flourishing. It only takes up on dark corner of the genre. So whenever I see something labelled as dark country I jump on it. This is the act's 5th album. The first song comes across as convincing, though I would say there is a lurking melancholy more than this is dark. Not to say that doesn't come as the album progresses . The first song is upbeat. Lyrically the story telling does invoke images for yearning redemption like saying " forward my mail to hell or worse". So there is the doomed feeling of waiting for the other shoe to drop. The average listener might find that dark, but here at Abysmal Hymns he have built up a high tolerance for darkness, so I need more than that .

Country music might be what these songs come from, but there is a more folk element that makes me think of the Decemberists. These guys are not telling a story with the same sense of theatrics are pulling from as many places as the Decemberists do , but I think they are in the same zip code as say 'the King is Dead" album. His voice is more plaintive than  Colin Melroy. There is more of a blue grass twang going into "Bring Back Someday". Speaking of twang that is what I need to keep this out of the Decemberists backyard. This is strange due to the fact that these guys are from Nashville where there should be no shortage of real country music to draw influence from. There is more of a conventional country feel to "Without a Doubt". It has a swift jig in its step, while it might not be the most original song on the album it is well done.

The best song on the album is "War Inside of Me" . Not because it's the darkest or the best sung. But it feels like the most honest and the lyrics strike me in a way that I can really relate to them. It is one of those song where if someone told me to pick the theme song to the soundtrack to my life I could use that one easy. "Diane" is more storytelling of a deal gone wrong with a hooker. When the vocals come in on the title track the rest of the arrangement tries to give the vocals room to breathe, but end up letting them carrying the weight of the song when his voice is not braced for it. "Lazy Moonshiner"  goes back into more of an Appalachian feel. It feels pretty honest which goes a long way with this style of music. The album ends with a bitter sweet ballad, that is good for what it is. Like most of the songs on this album it grows on me.  I'll give this album a 9 for what it lack it shadows it makes up for in heart and songwriting.