The Innovators: A Review of …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead's So Divided
by Robin Lyon

3 Beatles*

…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead have always been refreshingly musical. They’ve remained loyally guitar-centered, artistic and experimental, with the skill to craft long musical interludes that feed their songs rather than detract from them. Their albums have been epic, with grand sweeping melodies, a constant but quiet intensity, and visual, emotionally delivered lyrics.

So Divided, the band’s third major-label album, runs the musical gamut. Starting off with an audience-filled intro, the album launches into the energetic and satisfying “Stand in Silence,” which then switches into a quiet, building march and back again. The next song, “Wasted State of Mind”—a slightly heavier, slightly darker song, and very much in the realm of Source Codes & Tags and Worlds Apart—starts off with quick, tribal hand drumming and ends with an accordion. The album’s poppiest song, “Eight Day Hell,” is still powerful and satisfying. Its darkest, “Sunken Dreams,” moves into a softer, spoken-word interlude, and ends with a sort of classic rock choral piece.

Overall, it’s a calmer, more laid back album. The power and the tension of their earlier albums isn’t as consistently present, but it’s there. So Divided does contain a few of the simple, but emotionally powerful melodies Trail of Dead are so good at delivering, though nothing as great as Source Codes & Tags’  “How Near How Far” (the tension and emotion held in the simple melody, pulsing guitar, and slightly muffled vocal). “Witches Web” is a quiet, acoustic song with an almost country feel, but it maintains the strange air of a Trail of Dead song, and moves easefully into the darker “Sunken Dreams.”

The album experiments with genres and sounds, and does it well. Trail of Dead are good enough musicians, and are interesting and creative enough in their experimentation, that the final product still feels whole and complete. And despite the wide range of sound and feeling, the album flows together like a live show, the lyrics interconnect, and the songs are interesting and satisfying.

*Editors Note: To score albums or concert performances, LostWriters has adopted the Beatle System. The number of “Beatles” an artist receives correlates to the number of Beatles that would show up at a party hosted by the artist in question. The ratings are as follows:

1 Beatle: Ringo will come to your party because, hell, Ringo will go anywhere he’s actually invited. If an artist gets the dreaded “Half-Beatle,” Ringo will still show up to the party, but he’ll have sex with the lead singer’s spouse and possibly his or her children.

2 Beatles: Ringo will persuade Paul to join him at the band’s party by reminding Paul of the incriminating photos he still has from Paul's “I just want to dress like a wee girl phase.” If an artist receives 1.5 beatles, Paul will not be able to attend, but he will send a lovely fruit basket and several photos of himself. (Additional fees required for autographed photos.)

3 Beatles: Not only will Ringo and Paul come, but George Harrison will use his mystical powers to reincarnate himself from the dead just to attend this artist’s fete. If an artist receives 2.5 Beatles, George won’t be able to make it, but he’ll telepathically contact Ravi Shanker and ask him to go in his stead. For an extra fee, Ravi can teach the entire band how to play the sitar.

4 Beatles: You get the full quartet. This rating is reserved for works of true artistic genius, because it means Yoko has to let John out of that attic she’s been keeping him in all these years, and he’s going to be pretty surprised to find out there wasn’t a nuclear holocaust. If an artist receives 3.5 Beatles, Yoko will send Sean Lennon and two kilos of blow instead.   

November 14, 2006