And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - So Divided

… Trail Of Dead have been around for ages now, and if I’m honest I lost much of my interest not long after they began to turn down their stun racket into something more refined and symphonic. Ain’t it a bitch when bands do that? Even the Jesus Lizard tried it, and Blue was a sack of shit.

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead once excelled in a brand of fiery post punk that rattled teeth at five hundred yards, but now they’re much less fiery and just a little poorer for it. Still capable of unexpected twists and turns, So Divided offers up far more gentle, almost baroque segues rather than the simple crash and elongated art burn of before.

Proper opener, Stand In Silence rocks along a dirty riff before giving way to a pompous brass coda and twisting back into rollicking rock. Much of the old fire is contained just to there. Some epic volume is on the widescreen title track, reminding any Failure fans of their ‘96 Fantastic Planet record. Naked Sun wields some vicious blues crunch, marrying it to an angry punk rant.

Mostly, the band occupies themselves with songs in a more traditional classic pop format, playing compact Beatles by way of the Shins pop on Eight Days In Hell and ornate balladry on Gold Heart Mountain Top Directory. Elsewhere it is more traditional fare with the forgetful bombastic indie of Sunken Dreams and pointless instrumentals such as Segue: In The Realms Of The Unreal.

None of the material is truly dire but much of it pales compared to the jagged, unpredictable, psych-shot punk of their early days.

Once loud, now quieter and warmer; So Divided probably won’t shift the balance of receding … Trail Of Dead record sales but it will offer fans of the band an interesting, if flawed album; one more indebted to Brian Wilson than to Sonic Youth.

Ziprob · 14th November 2006, 4:06pm

Bought the album yesterday, I hope that it's a grower because after my first listen I was a little disappointed. Their last album 'Worlds Apart' was a modern classic, an outstanding record that all of those passionate about music should own.

I think the band should be lauded for their inventiveness and positive approach to making music just that little bit different - it's a shame there aren't more bands like them.