The Triffids were never labeled as a Christian band, but there's an undeniably
spiritual feel to several of the songs on Calenture. Moreover, vocalist
David McComb spews his words with the fiery passion of a backwoods preacher.
The orchestral sweep of "Bury Me Deep in Love" recalls the Waterboys'
expansive sound; the lyrics are unmistakably religious as McComb looks
for salvation in a chapel. Fans of Nick Cave will immediately be seduced
by McComb's bluesy croon; deep and brimming with palpable sorrow, McComb's
voice never dwindles in intensity. "A Trick of the Light" opens
like a lullaby with its twinkling synths; the pitter-patter of the drums
augment the track's dream-like ambience. The lyrics, however, read like
the tortured confessions of a man obsessed with an ex-lover: "You
remind very much/Of someone that I used to know/We used to take turns
crying all night." The striking images in Calenture illustrate the
predicaments of each song's characters. The hallucinations suffered by
the woman in "Kelly's Blues" are vividly drawn: "Her tree
blew over/I shook her branches down/The wind and I, we howled around her
door/Now there's a buckle in the sky, lightning on the shore." The
grim "Vagabond Holes" details the anger of romantic rejection
with unflinching bitterness. Stoked by sinister guitars and pummeling
drums, McComb unleashes a volley of vindictive thoughts: "No one's
going to love you when you're wrinkled and old/No teeth in your gum, your
hair the colour of snow." The Triffids released one more LP, The
Black Swan, before the band split up and McComb sadly passed away. McComb's
explosive rage at the finale of "Vagabond Holes" should've been
the Triffids' last gasp, an unsettling blast of scarred emotions that
isn't easy to shake off.
(by Michael Sutton, All
Music Guide)
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