...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - The Century of Self [Album]

Justice Records

Perhaps rather unfairly The Century of Self is already being heralded as a return to form for Trail of Dead following their acrimonious split with former label Interscope. Not unfair because it’s not of a quality you would hope for if you have enjoyed their previous work, but unfair if like me you appreciated all of their previous work, including their last two where it was all supposed to have gone wrong. Both Worlds Apart and So Divided moved their sound onwards and upwards, closer to where it now lies, with the band taking the kind of risks that most bands are too scared to attempt. They had to at least be commended for that. And indeed Cenury of Self retains both their early raw power, and their more recent risk and ambition, not to mention their constant grasp of melody. It’s always odd to see the band labelled as noise rockers. Sure they are loud, but all elements of their music remain harmonious.

Lyrically The Century of Self is a record based on big themes (and big foot – “Insatiable (two)”) that dictate the music. It’s heavily influenced by history (“The Giants Causeway”, “The Far Pavilions”) and religion (“Isis Unveiled”, “Bells of Creation”) and discovering new species, though it also has more personal subject matter (“Luna Park”, “Pictures of an Only Child” & “Ascending”). There is absolutely nothing lazy about the whole album from the weighty, researched lyrical topics mentioned above to the dense, layered music which I’ll come to soon. The first indication of the amount of work that has gone into The Century of Self though is the fantastic artwork, all drawn by the main creative hub of Conrad Keely entirely in ballpoint pen. This may not be his first attempt at the band’s artwork, but it’s by far his most impressive.

Trail of Dead have always garnered new fans as much from their live shows as their records, with their great performances bolstered by the ritualistic destruction of their instruments at the close of their early shows, to the awesome sound their dual drumming could produce. And many of the tracks on The Century of Self leave you positively salivating over how they will sound live. The two obvious live ‘anthems’ are “Bells of Creation” and “Fields of Coal”, the latterfeaturing a fists in the air chant-a-long chorus that should rouse a crowd nicely. But it’s the vast imposing tracks, “The Giants Causeway”, “Isis Unveiled” and “Halcyon Days” that should really excite live.

Opening track “The Giants Causeway” is as huge as the title suggests; behemothic 70’s proggy keyboards and customarily immense drums power the song, but could probably power all the stereos this album will ever play on. Trail of Dead records have always had an instrumental opening of some kind, and The Century of Self continues that tradition with “The Giants Causeway”, but this takes it to another level. No lyrics could ever do such a piece of music justice, as it sounds like nature at its most brutal.

Second track “The Far Pavilions” could have been lifted right off Madonna or Source Tags & Codes but any fans believing frontman Conrad Keely’s talk of “returning to their roots” will find little else here that could fit on their early albums. Trail of Dead have grown from those punky artcore days into something even more ambitious and ardent, and nothing flaunts that more than third track “Isis Unveiled”. Sounding like the soundtrack to the chariot race of the Gods, it gallops along at a frightening early pace before slowly grinding to a standstill in the middle like the wheels of some huge vehicle of war. Of course TOD couldn’t possibly leave it there, and so they explode back into life for a finale of the grandest scale. It all soundtracks an extremely heady lyrical subject, that of an early Christian sect who believed in two biblical gods – the Old Testament God, and the God of Christ from The New Testament who overthrew the old Testament God; ‘I Kissed a Girl’ this is not.

“Halcyon Days” doesn’t at first appear to offer a moment to rest either, as it begins like something off Worlds Apart, all theatrical and orchestral, and then when you think the song has ended and track 5 is about to begin, they appear to bizarrely draft in Enya before Keely takes the reigns again, and they power off into.....elevator music. Absolutely bewildering, but utterly brilliant. Only a band with a full title of ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead could even attempt this, let alone pull it off so spectacularly.

The next two tracks are just the sort of tracks that their former label were crying out for, although to be fair they did get them in the form of ‘Let it Dive’ and ‘The Rest Will Follow’ on Worlds Apart but then this has more of the bite of So Divided’s ‘Stand in Silence’. Yes it’s big anthem time, and if that’s what you like (who honestly doesn’t?) then you won’t find them any better than “Bells of Creation” and “Fields of Coal”. The beauty of a band like Trail of Dead (actually there is no band like Trail of Dead, except Trail of Dead) is that they can produce these arms aloft anthems whilst still tackling weighty subjects lyrically. “Bells of Creation” is inspired by Theophany (heavenly music to you and I), and by the questions “if we’re governed by these universal laws here, what would music sound like that was made by aliens? Or what would music be like that was made by beings of a spiritual nature – non-material beings?” as Keely explained in a recent interview with The Skinny.

Pretty much every track on this album, and much of their previous work, features piano, but from here on in it plays a bigger role. “Luna Park” and “Insatiable (one)” are both slower, piano led tracks that are more stripped back and less dense than anything else on the album. “Luna Park” is the only track written solely by drummer/guitarist/co-vocalist Jason Reece, and has been described as their “ballad” (whatever that has come to mean nowadays). Its opening almost sounds like someone else entirely and sits slightly at odds with the rest of the album, before building to slightly more familiar territory.

The album’s final two tracks proper (“An August Theme” is more of a musical snippet, the likes of which the band often sprinkle their albums with) offer the perfect grand finale to an album of unbridled ambition and scope. “Ascending” only wobbles slightly in the middle when an unusually orthodox, and slightly cheesy, guitar solo appears; the rest of the time it’s as big and brash as most of what went before, with another chant-a-long section that no doubt the crowd will turn stereo when it’s played live.

The old metaphor of being taken on a journey by an album may well be a tired one, but it just feels so applicable here. As the sublime final track “Insatiable (two)” soars off towards the other world in which this album came, you genuinely feel a little overwhelmed by the preceding musical voyage. Music that scales such imposing heights will never be for everyone, so if we do indeed know them by the trail of dead, we will never know them by the trail of success. However, for those who appreciate, or are perhaps even looking for music that offers more in every possible way, they will know they have found it here by the trail of everything they could ever want from a band.

Track List:
1. Giants Causeway
2. Far Pavillions
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. An August Theme
13. Insatiable (Two)

Buy the The Century of Self here: http://www.play.com/Music/CD/4-/8706...f/Product.html