Troll 2 is back and stronger than ever with Death Magnanimous being their 3rd album and it having more folk, bluegrass, and even some classic western country influences. That being said the lyrics are nothing you’ll find in those genres alone, they talk about cigarettes, being stoned in dive bars, the true value of material items and more.

The first song is a short but sweet intro song called “Theme From Troll 2” with some great violin melodies but the second song “really” starts things up with an eerie song about getting away with murder in the case of revenge on a rapist that sounds like it could be in a western horror film. The next song titled “Roadkill” takes a lighter tone instrumentally and has catchier lyrics (I know personally, because I was singing the chorus for hours after I heard it). The lyrics aren’t as dark as the first song but it has some pretty depressing lyrics about how you can have a great life but your life could also get cut short by another person by accident, the squirrels are used as examples here.

The next song is even lighter lyrically with a storytelling setting for the vocals. The song is a somewhat funny ode to bugler’s DIY cigarettes and it has an underlying message about how material goods aren’t worth anything once they’re done with or disposed of. The second to last song is easily the most chaotic song on the album describing how weapons have evolved and how they only get more and more threatening and dangerous over time. It’s a great song released at the perfect time when stricter gun control laws are needed more than ever.

Now finally the last song. “You Should Think About Death More”, this song takes an odd turn into existentialism explaining that it can be a good thing for some people because their anxiety, depression and all of their big problems seem smaller if they don’t matter in the grand scheme of things,. This may be a controversial take on depression but it’s delivered so well and respectfully that I think it would be hard to get angry at it.

So if you dig chaotic lyrics and fun instrumentation that makes you want to burn down your landlord’s house without a care in the world. Or if you just like folk-punk that isn’t too angsty, whiny, and doesn’t sound like a skinny white boy wrote it in their sleep, definitely check this out.