Low Estate

Murder ballads are back in vogue, and this Denver alt-country outfit channels the soul of Appalachian Goth as well as any of its current fetishists (Nick Cave, P.J. Harvey) on Low Estate. Now a four-piece, they’re rocking harder, using banjos and bandonions to conjure ghosts, madness, and the usual death match between libido and old-school Christian guilt. There’s a bit of snake-oil pitching about it all, but that’s half the fun. B+