And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Lost Songs 2xLP

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Lost Songs 2xLP, a photo by Tim PopKid on Flickr.

Richter Scale/Superball (2012)

I love the Trail Of Dead record Source Tags & Codes. I also really liked Worlds Apart and So Divided. Much more so than most people. Then I didn't really care for the Century Of Self record, and frankly I hardly remember a thing about their last record Tao of the Dead aside from not being into it enough to even buy the record after listening to a stream a couple of times. Lost Sounds, however, is their best work in a decade.

For the first time in forever, the band doesn't come across as feeling quite so self indulgent. Sure, there are still some very long songs and some pretty ornate arrangements here, but the band really sounds like they have some fire in their bellies this time out. You can really feel the intensity, especially on the first half of the record. I seems like the band has something to say and a lot to prove this time out, and they do so very successfully.

The packaging on this thing is stellar. Thick vinyl, gatefold cover, sprawling artwork. Really a fantastic little package. There's a version of this on green vinyl sold out of Germany, but I just couldn't bring myself to pay more than double the cost of the black vinyl version I was able to get from a domestic distro.

All in all, the record is a little long and does drag a bit towards the end, but this is easily the band's best effort since Source Tags and their ambition is a nice change of pace compared to so many bands that just go through the motions. And the packaging is simply top notch.

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - Lost Songs:
www.spin.com/articles/stream-and-you-will-know-us-by-the-...