Decoration Day

iTunes Review

Decoration Day may not inspire the same pinky-and-index-finger-waggling bliss as DBT’s Skynyrd-haunted concept album Southern Rock Opera, but it packs a devastating punch nonetheless. Leaner and meaner than its predecessor, the album has its share of blowsy, three-guitar rockers — including the Stones-esque romp “Marry Me” and the ornery road anthem “Hell No I Ain’t Happy” — but feel-good it certainly ain’t. With songs about incest (“The Deeper In”), divorce (the pithily titled “Your Daddy Hates Me”), and a twofer on suicide (“When the Pin Hits the Shell” followed by the withering “Do It Yourself”), Decoration Day paints a bleak picture of life in the working-class South. Musically, the sound once again proves that old-school Southern rock has more in common with Replacements-style punk than we ever thought — and the ragged guitar textures of Crazy Horse fit in just fine with both, the Allman Brothers be damned. Lyrically, the album is plain-spoken, unpretentious and smart. It’s hard to write about a long-simmering family feud without falling into backwoods cliché, but in the hands of these boys from Alabama, the title song turns into a searing meditation on the burdens of family and history, capped off with a thunderous coda of crashing guitars.