I imagine they sing about dead things, because it hits hard for a great deal of people. And that they feel a certain way, wanting to share it with others. A hit to the heart is a great compliment to a creator.

Which makes me think of Pompeii by Bear's Den. It is also very heartbreaking, and about a dead mother. Well, more about the hole in his life that the lack of her left. How it hurt him and his father a great deal.

I just listened to Terrible Things, and I'm fairly sure that they wrote it because the loss hurt them, and they wanted to get it out. Nothing quite like telling others as a catharsis.