Author: Peter Podbrežnik
Artist: And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
Label: Superball Music
Release: 2009
Length: 51:35
Rating: 3.5/5
…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead (Trail of Dead for short) are a relatively popular American art rock band that has so far earned its greatest respect in alternative and indie rock circles. According to their website, the band’s witty name comes from an ancient Mayan ritual chant that shares plenty of similarities with an ancient Egyptian ritual chant. The band is led by lead vocalist/guitarist Conrad Keely and drummer/vocalist Jason Reece. The big quirk of Trail of Dead is probably how the two bosses swap places in the studio and on stage as lead singer and drummer, kind of Genesis-style, except they take it even further by swapping on guitar too. Both multi-instrumentalists can boast a solid command of the technical side, and they’re also steadily growing as composers.
Trail of Dead’s output so far has carried the heavy stamp of alternative rock noise and a rebellious spirit, but with their sixth release, “The Century of Self”, the band announced a shift toward somewhat more refined art rock directions, noticeably moving closer to a few bands that have successfully built a bridge between alternative and progressive rock in recent years, such as The Mars Volta and Muse.
The first proof that the band is returning to a more organic sound on “The Century of Self”, after two previous releases built from countless studio overdubs of individual sonic fragments, is that this time all the compositions were played live and from memory. The album’s sound reflects a striking contrast between raw, unruly aggression, melodic “Beatles-style” vocal harmonies, and the murkiness of heavily used samples. There’s no shortage of ragged sections with heavily distorted guitars, while in the rhythmic passages small experimental touches keep surprising you through electronic samples. Even though it isn’t a concept album, the tracks melt into one another and give the record a very good flow.
The opening instrumental “Giants Causeway” is a shortened version of the track “The Betrayal of Roger Casement & the Irish Brigade”, which appeared on the “Festival Theme” EP. The title refers to a very rare and fascinating natural phenomenon of basalt formations located in a protected natural area in Ireland. That Irish panorama is embodied by epic Celtic keyboard arrangements woven into thunderous guitar distortion. “Far Pavilions” is inspired by the epic novel by British writer M. M. Kaye. The novel, set at the height of the British Empire and its rivalry with tsarist Russia for dominance over territories in Central Asia (late 19th century), tells the story of the adventures of a young British officer. Distorted guitar volleys and rebellious vocals typical of alternative rock erupt through its musical makeup, while an oriental percussion ending delivers an experimental surprise.
“Isis Unveiled” flirts with prog-power metal through wild drum fills and epic singing. The drum march is then joined by psychedelic vocal mantras in the style of late Beatles or Barrett-era Pink Floyd, after which the opening epic motif returns. The interesting stuff keeps coming as the album goes on. Among the more interesting moments, I’d also single out “Bells of Creation”, where they very neatly work in an esoteric space rock section, “Inland Sea” with its enchanting piano passages, the acoustic “Pictures of an Only Child”, “Ascending”, which with its dual guitar attack is yet another unusual experiment between hard rock, punk, and psychedelia, and the closing symphonic rock carousel “Insatiable, Pt. 2”, with which they bow to the Beatles once more.
“The Century of Self” boasts, above all, a high degree of flow, with individual motifs and sections building a multicolored sonic collage of many mighty atmospheres. You can’t accuse the band of repetitiveness for even a moment, which is usually the main flaw of many modern art rock acts. Unlike most (former) indie/alternative rock bands or extreme metal bands that love to label themselves art rock or prog rock these days, but are usually closer to regressive rock in practice, Trail of Dead have clearly shown with this record that they’re the real deal when it comes to convincing experimentation with a rich palette of sonic textures and building grand atmospheres. They’re not short on vitality and ambition, and they clearly show their growth as songwriters, which gives them a chance to noticeably widen their audience.
The album doesn’t bring any dramatic shake-up to the endless world of art rock, but within the modern alternative rock scene it’s far more than a quality achievement, proving that even among the “eternal rebels” there are musicians with solid technical chops and an ear for compositional aesthetics. I’d also like to give a shout-out to the excellent front and back cover of the album, which were drawn entirely by hand with a blue ballpoint pen, which, in today’s flood of computer-animated digital scribbles, is a real feast for the eyes.
Lineup
Conrad Keely – vocals, guitar, keyboards
Jason Reece – vocals, guitar, drums
Kevin Allen guitar
Aaron Ford – drums
Clay Morris – keyboards
Jay Phillips – bass guitar
Production
Chris Coady
Track list
1. Giants Causeway
2. Far Pavilions
3. Isis Unveiled
4. Halcyon Days
5. Bells Of Creation
6. Fields Of Coal
7. Inland Sea
8. Luna Park
9. Pictures Of An Only Child
10. Insatiable One
11. Ascending
12. August Theme, An
13. Insatiable Two
