Release Date: February 8, 2011
Austin alt-rock masters …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead come to the table with a trimmed line-up and a rather hurried recording timeline, but blast a gaping crater in the ear hole of America with a distorted, larger-than-life album made to treat the senses.
The band’s recent record Tao of the Dead was put together in just ten days last summer with a line-up of only four guys as opposed to the usual seven. The brutal sound produced on this newest collection touts a mastered year in the studio.
All shortcomings from the trim line-up and short timeline considered, the latest full-length is an epic voyage through time and space that is cool, collected and fitting for late night pot parties or just some much needed private reflection time.
The band combines subtle electronic undertones with good old-fashioned alternative flair likened to the Pixies and heralds a sound straight out of the mid ‘90s.
The band members pound out eccentric sounds that are unparalleled by recent musical standards and give a throwback to a time when music was centered around distorted guitar riffs and flowing, melodic vocals.
There is an uninterrupted transference of sound from start to finish on the album and each song flows perfectly into one another. It feels like sitting on a cold beach in the fall watching gray and white waves combine just short of the shoreline. Conrad Keely’s voice embraces this feeling and encapsulates it as if he were the warm sun breaking through the silver-lined clouds behind the breakers.
Each song runs consistently together and the first single “Summer of All Dead Souls” sets the tone for the collection by getting the energy level up and keeping it there.
Even though there are a few dips into obscurity through the album, there is a lucid vein that is relentless and doesn’t give time for a fresh breath of air until the very end.
“The Wasteland” precedes the album’s single and it helps provide a preemptive glimpse into the soul of the assortment. Hard guitars and monster lyrics are the order of the day and everyone pulls together to produce a full sound made from sheer genius.
The album slows here and there and “Ebb Away” is a great example of what it feels like to slow down at a high-energy show and feel the sweat form and the muffled stink of 400 moshing fanatics filling the air.
The album’s near hour-long trip is accented by a 16-and-a-half-minute jam across murkiness called “Strange News From Another Planet.” The song soars from end to end in a tidal wave of fury and fantasy and though it may be long holds more attention than the original record-length “In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida” by Iron Butterfly.
At any given time, there is an epic record waiting to be grabbed by some unsuspecting new fan. When it comes to Tao of the Dead, go out and grab a copy, see “your guy” about “some stuff” and make an evening of it.
…And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead – Tao of the Dead tracklist
- “Introduction: Let’s Experiment”
- “Pure Radio Cosplay”
- “Summer of All Dead Souls”
- “Cover the Days Like a Tidal Wave”
- “Fall of the Empire”
- “The Wasteland”
- “The Spiral Jetty”
- “Weight of the Sun (or the Post-Modern Prometheus)”
- “Pure Radio Cosplay (Reprise)”
- “Ebb Away”
- “The Fairlight Pendant”
- “Strange News from Another Planet”
