2020 sees Austin alternative rockers And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead celebrate their 25th anniversary with the release of their 10th album ‘X: The Godless Void And Other Stories’. It’s been six years since their last album, and with the departure of long time bassist Autry Fulbright and guitarist/drummer Jamie Miller, founding members Conrad Keely and Jason Reece seem to have come full circle and recorded ‘X’ as a duo, sharing lead vocals and guitar/drums duty, as they did for their first 2 albums.
With themes of loss, introspection and displacement, largely fuelled by Conrad’s forced move from his home of Cambodia back to his native Texas, Trail Of Dead challenge themselves, as with every album, to create rich musical tapestries of post punk / art rock.
‘X’ opens, as many Trail Of Dead albums do, with a slowly building, atmospheric instrumental that sets the scene for the upcoming musical journey. The mystical ‘The Opening Crescendo’ does exactly what it says on the tin, and with bells, whistles and chanting, it is probably the most grandiose of all of their opening offerings.
Known for their incendiary live shows and the tendency to trash their instruments and themselves (in the past anyway) Trail Of Dead are a band who exists on their own plateau, like Jane’s Addiction meets A Perfect Circle, where art rock and prog meets punk in an explosive mish-mash of glorious sound.
A Trail Of Dead album is not a casual, nor at times an easy listen, yet with each repeated plays the rewards are there to be taken. For me, it is a journey to be taken in as a full album experience, artwork in hand to peruse at will.
They veer from the melancholy and moody to aggro-rock with ease. Trademark beats, intricate guitar work and familiar melodies are rife in ‘All Who Wonder’, and ‘Into The Godless Void’ marries grungey guitars, tribal beats and guttural wailing in a way that has not been envisioned since Jane’s Addiction shocked the system with ‘Nothing’s Shocking’. A 3 minute art rock epic, it’s the alternative to the Alternative, and probably the best thing Jason Reece has sung on since ‘Caterwaul’.
Yet there’s a moment in ‘Who Haunts The Haunter’ where Trail Of Dead sound remarkably like Oasis. The stabbing refrain echo’s ‘Morning Glory’s iconic intro. And while Conrad’s vision of millennial pop music is far removed from Noel Gallagher’s mainstream radio-friendly songwriting style, interestingly they share the same ability to create grandiose, stadium-sized tunes. Take album centrepiece ‘Children Of The Sky’, a sprawling epic tale of loss that builds in a ‘Champagne Supernova’ sort of way. You’ll never hear this tune on the radio though.
The 90’s nostalgia continues elsewhere, ‘Don’t Look Down’ with its jangly guitars and indie pop vibes brings to mind Mega City 4, and sweet acoustic guitars and a haunting melody give a melancholy vibe to ‘Something Like This’ before waves of distortion takes the song off on a musical tangent.
Keely and Reece still put their heart and soul into Trail Of Dead after a quarter of a Century. While themes of heartbreak, loss and regret may on the surface seem depressing and miserable, these are the things that fuel the tortured artist and breathe fire into their creative mind. In truth,‘X’ is an uplifting album that offers much. It’s easy to get lost in the song dynamics, from the proggy sections to the punk intensity, it’s a noisy and thrilling joyride through sonically seductive expanses of sound. Even Conrad’s ever-stunning artwork that is as thought provoking and rapturous as the music itself.
Still doing things on their own terms, And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead show no signs of slowing down just yet, and ‘X’ is a fine addition to their discography.
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