Lurking between the riffs and sing-along choruses of Blitzen Trapper’s All Across This Land is a deep well of spiritually provocative reflection.

By JJT (Written for ThinkChristian.net)

Portland’s Blitzen Trapper just released All Across This Land, their eighth album and — barring an intervention of supernatural proportions — likely my Album of the Year. I haven’t been this moved by a new record since Daniel Amos’ stellar Dig Here, Said the Angel in 2013. Like that gem, All Across This Land is a tight and visceral collection that unapologetically plumbs life’s big questions with the radio cranked up and the windows rolled down.

The tracks here range from blistering riff-rock to alt-country, from sweeping pop to apocalyptic folk, so that each song sounds like a hit single in one format or another. The melodies soar and the ideas connect. And lurking between the riffs and sing-along choruses is a deep well of spiritually provocative reflection.

Songwriter, guitarist and front man Eric Earley has an uncanny ability to imbue even the most clichéd metaphor with new meaning. “Nights Were Made For Love,” for instance, channels Bruce Springsteen’s “Born To Run” sentiment but adds a deeper thought. While the lyrics at first paint a vivid portrait of small-town life in a simpler time, suddenly the idea shifts so that the final verse essentially paraphrases Song of Songs 8: 6-7:

Love is stronger than death you know

Oh it’s stronger even than the grave

It burns like a blazing fire by night

And like the sun on a sky blue day

But many waters cannot quench my love

There ain’t no river gonna sweep it away

It’ll cost more than all the silver and gold

So you better put your money away

This verse colors the rest of the song in an interesting way. Without it, the chorus — “The days were made for working hard but the nights were made for love” — could sound like any other rock-and-roll slogan. Here, however, Earley seems to suggest that there is more to love than simply getting lucky.

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