Vena Amori

Vena Amori‘s just-released The Seduction of an American Housewife purports to tell “the true story of the Dalton Murders.” Whereas the slayings of the Holcomb, Kansas, Clutter family recently received its second cinematic treatment (Capote, following In Cold Blood), the gruesome 1968 deaths of Crawford City, Kansas, natives Judith and Marilyn Dalton have remained shrouded in mystery until now, though Vena Amori’s use of autopsy photos in its liner notes suggests case materials were easily accessible. Skeptics might doubt the story’s veracity, but the record’s musical brutality is unquestionable. The Kansas City band incorporates dual-guitar harmonies, serrated punk riffs, deranged vocals and melodic segments during which the singing becomes as clean as a sterilized scalpel. Now in the midst of a nation-traversing tour, Vena Amori has introduced scores of crowds to this area’s potential for darkest evil — and it spins a murder yarn in the process.