…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – “IX”
…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead – IX
2014 – Superball
Medium Rotation – 3.5/5
RIYL: At The Drive-In, Superchunk, Unwound
Review by: Andre LeBrun
After years of missteps and dense concept albums, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead has finally reconciled its old style with its new and started moving forward again. Of course, while the band will never quite recapture the magic that made 2002’s Source Tags and Codes so unique, the band’s recent output makes this their third revitalized record after the string of mediocre or just plain bad albums that followed Source Tags. While Trail of Dead abandoned their recent progressive and conceptual leanings for the most part on their last record, 2012’s Lost Songs, this album returns to such progressive turns, yet also incorporates more of their older post-hardcore sound, giving a greater scale and more value to their music. In particular, instrumental track “How to Avoid Huge Ships” may very well be the best song here, with sweeping melodies, building instrumentals, and perhaps the most post-rock sound Trail of Dead has conjured up yet. While this is absolutely not for everyone, and this record is still barely recognizable compared to old Trail of Dead classics like “It Was There That I Saw You”, Trail of Dead has still brought their careers back out of obscurity and into the modern day, giving listeners something to actually care about. I can’t speak for all Trail of Dead fans, but I know I for one will be looking forward to future records from them in the future.
Picks: 1, 3, 7
