The character in Moon Colony Bloodbath shows us we’re in for a dark journey in “Lucifer Rising.”

Track: “Lucifer Rising”
Album: Moon Colony Bloodbath (2009)

Calling John Vanderslice obtuse is a bit like saying water is wet, but it comes through in his approach to his songs on Moon Colony Bloodbath and is worth mentioning specifically. I love Vanderslice, both on this album and for his solo work, but it can be a struggle to crack through what he’s saying. In many cases I’m of the mind that it doesn’t matter and maybe can’t be solved. Kyle Barbour, my personal favorite Mountain Goats “researcher,” has a record number of annotations for this album that essentially say “this is what this says, but I have no idea why it says this.”

“Lucifer Rising” is Vanderslice’s first song on Moon Colony Bloodbath and it finds our main character wandering around Colorado alone, surrounded by bodies and filled with grim thoughts. They call themselves many dark names, including John the Ripper but inexplicably not Jack the Ripper. Is there significance here? Is this a self-reference from the two Johns that made this? If so, what would that mean? You could reach way out there and assume this is a John, not one of those Johns, and they’re being funny by slightly altering another butcher’s name to foreshadow their own actions, but there’s nothing else to support that theory.

This is the first sign we get that things are going to get really bad. “One day I’ll pay for this, but now, just let me in,” our main character pleads, but we don’t know to who. I don’t know what to make of the title’s reference to Kenneth Anger’s 1972 film, either, but Vanderslice would be pleased at how it all combines to form a story you can almost, but not quite, put your finger on.