Sharpen your knife

It must have been sometime in the fall of '97. We were hanging out at my friend Thorsten's house, who was the drummer of our band. I was flipping through his record collection - the nerd equivalent to comparing our dick sizes - when I came across a record by a band whose name sounded vaguely familar to me.

"Oh, Starkweather," he said. "That's a really good record. You have to hear this!"
"Yes," our friend Sven chimed in, "it's amazing!"

I remembered that I had indeed heard them before. A song of theirs, Hushabye and Goodnight, was on the Definitely Not the Majors compilation, out on Bush League Records, that I had picked up sometime earlier that year in Seattle. It was one of the songs, along with contributions by Bloodlet and Coalesce, that had particularly stood out to me. It was pure heaviness all the way through, with searing guitar solos and tortured vocals that ran the gamut from screaming and growling to snarls, as the singer alternately intoned them while breathing in and pushing the air back out of his lungs, especially toward the drawn-out end of the song. Their full-length, Into the Wire, was out on Edison, so it was probably at least okay, I figured.

Did it blow my socks off? No. I liked it, but it was one of those records that only grew on me over time. But I keep going back to it and I probably listen to it more now than I ever have. I've long been convinced, though, that Thorsten and Sven were right. Into the Wire is a great record, full of dramatic ups and downs, moments of pensiveness and bursts of aggression, though always in a very well thought-out, controlled manner, with every note and beat exactly where they need to be. You've probably read about other bands, like Converge, quoting Starkweather as one of their influences. It's not always apparent from the sound, but there is something about the, for lack of a better word, atmospheric density in Starkweather's music that is at least as inspiring as it was ahead of their time when Into the Wire first came out in 1995.

As you probably know, they're back, with a new bass player, a new record, Croatoan, to be released sometime soon on Second Nature (Hypertension will handle the vinyl) and a tour in Europe this Summer. For more info as well as a complete discography and a whole bunch of interviews, check out their site. Below are my three favorite songs from Into the Wire. They're largish files, but you will not be disappointed ... I'm tempted to keep rambling on about specific parts in those songs, but really, you should hear for yourself.

Starkweather - Shroud
Starkweather - Murder in Technicolor
Starkweather - Into the Wire

The next two are "newer" songs. 'Taming Leeches with Fire' was never properly released, while 'Hushabye' was on the abovementioned compilation. New versions of both songs will be featured on Croatoan.

Starkweather - Taming Leeches with Fire
Starkweather - Hushabye and Goodnight