There was always a hint of menace to the music of Austin's Okkervil River. Two albums - Down the River of Golden Dreams and Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See - dealt with the sad stuff, but the postmodern chamber pop arrangements were warm. Things changed on Black Sheep Boy. The band got dark. Frontman Will Sheff's lyrics were the stuff of nightmares and horror films full of gnashing teeth, claws, shredded throats and buckets of blood. The album's arrangements were every bit as full as previousmore

There was always a hint of menace to the music of Austin's Okkervil River. Two albums -- Down the River of Golden Dreams and Don't Fall in Love With Everyone You See -- dealt with the sad stuff, but the postmodern chamber pop arrangements were warm. Things changed on Black Sheep Boy. The band got dark. Frontman Will Sheff's lyrics were the stuff of nightmares and horror films full of gnashing teeth, claws, shredded throats and buckets of blood. The album's arrangements were every bit as full as previous recordings, but a turgid, urgent, pained sound emerged. After opening with a wounded, spare take on Tim hardin's Black Sheep Boy, the album explodes into catharsis on For Real, with Sheff singing like a tortured soul. On Black, the band sounds like a cross between Dock Boggs and the Cure. The equally intense Sheep Boy Appendix, comprised of worthy overflow, was released last fall. Okkervil's live presentation is every bit as urgent, with the gangly bespecled Sheff given to hopping on top of the bass drum for some regorous riffing. The effect is thrilling and scary. Just like Okkervil River.