Photos of Trail of Dead at Dingwalls in London, U.K. on November 18th, 2014
Photos of Trail of Dead at Lido in Berlin, Germany on October 17th, 2012
Photos of Trail of Dead at Fluxbau in Berlin, Germany on October 17th, 2012
Photos of Trail of Dead at Islington Academy in London, U.K. on April 19th, 2011
Photos of Trail of Dead at O2 Academy in Birmingham, U.K. on April 18th, 2011
Photos of Trail of Dead at Garage in Glasgow, U.K. on April 17th, 2011
Photos of Trail of Dead at Academy 2 in Manchester, U.K. on April 16th, 2011
Photos of Trail of Dead at Electric Ballroom in London, U.K. on April 15th, 2011
Photos of Trail of Dead at Muftahalle in Munich, Germany on April 12th, 2011
Photos of Trail of Dead at Arena in Vienna, Austria on April 10th, 2011
Photos of Trail of Dead at Astra in Berlin, Germany on April 9th, 2011
Photos of Trail of Dead at Ubel und Gefaehrlich in Hamburg, Germany on April 8th, 2011
Photos of Trail of Dead at 2008 Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX
The history of Austin’s …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead seemed to be doomed to decline, despite their epic sound. Major label debut Source Tags & Codes got near universal acclaim ten years ago, but following records saw a slide to the point of major label departure five years later – and subsequent self-made records like last year’s Tao of the Dead (QRO review) failed to reverse the critical slide. Where once they were headlining festivals, now they were playing during the daytime – even at home (QRO photos, during the day at a hometown festival). Where once they sprawled with members and instruments, 2010 saw them reduced their core four-piece.
Yet Lost Songs manages to reverse that downward slope – in epic fashion, of course.
The epic rock employed by the likes of Trail of Dead has always been a double-edged sword – if there’s not substance behind it, it can feel all hat and no cattle; just epic for epic’s sake. Yet Lost Songs puts a core of aggressive uplift behind its tracks, from the first building notes of opener “Open Doors” on forward. The push is energetic and effective, and sustains throughout the album.
Admittedly, the best tracks are the ones where the band does something more than just epic (the melodic loss of the title track, for instance), and the epic nature can get overdone (see the following “Flower Card Games”). This is not a perfect record, or even a perfect epic record, or even the best epic record of the year (see Japandroids’ Celebration Rock – QRO review – but that’s one of the best records of the year…), but an epic turnaround of the Trail.