For those of you who don't know the story, the mighty Trail of Dead almost went through a breakup after the disappointing response to their last album, the ambitious Worlds Apart, but instead, went into the studio to try and capture some magic and put out a quick EP, which ended up being this highly underrated full-length album. It is a hauntingly familiar LP that will grow on you if you give it a chance. It won't take long. Sometimes a song will start growing on you while you're listening to it. You'll think it's boring at first, but then it builds to something powerful and elegant.
"Wasted State of Mind" is an amazing, soulful, near-masterpiece that you will think kind of blows at first and then almost immediately, you wake your punk ass up and love it as you start singing along with it. This happened to me on the first listen! That kind of stuff never happens to me, by the way. Like me, you may even have to go back and listen to it a couple more times after you complete the rest of the album.
"Witch's Web" is a gorgeous, entrancing melody of a song that will almost instantly cling to your soul. The drums during the intro remind me of the Polynesian-style percussion that is often used during epic hula performances. This is not surprising, seeing how this band was formed in Hawaii, and the beauty of this is not lost on me, since this was also where I was born.
The album as a whole has a few minor missteps, but nothing shockingly bad or distracting. In other words, the few weak moments cannot even be fairly recognized as such as they do not take away from any of the great moments.
The band seems to be maturing, but unfortunately, this may mean that we'll be hearing less and less of the hard pop thrashing that used to break out frequently on their earlier records.
Article comments
1 - Danny
Great Review!