Death and the Bible just might be the darkest album The Tiger Lillies have released since Bad Blood & Blasphemy, and that’s saying something. While the Tiger Lillies aren’t strangers to poking fun at melancholy topics, Death and the Bible goes out of its way to turn its dire nose up at the idea of gallows humor. The Death bit of the title fulfills its drear promise with the morbid balladry of “Graveside” and a cynical reminder of the body’s mortal fallibility in “Meat”; the Bible side isn’t any lighter in tone: bear witness to “Bleeding Hands of Jesus” and “Judas” as proof that the Lillies didn’t record this to spread a gospel of redemption. The most sprightly this collection of audio fatalism gets is in the romping suicide ditty “Strawberry Jam.” Even Martyn Jacques’s falsetto croon seems much more tragic than comic on this outing. The accordion gets less time than is usual; have no fear, some rather manic ukulele playing more than picks up the slack. The rest of the spectral ensemble is comprised of the usual bass and drums, with the addition of interesting use of oddball instrumentation such as the singing saw. Put this record on when you want your guests to leave a party. And perhaps throw themselves into the river on the way home.

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