…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Tao of the Dead
There are great headphone albums made all of the time. Although the bulk of them stem from the hip/trip hop community and various atmospheric electronic acts, one of my favorite kind are layered, long play progressive acts. Trail of the Dead have attempted a few times to make one of these great soaring albums, and to me, have never really succeeded. That is, until now.
Don’t get me wrong, I love this band. Their blend of melody and cinematic soundscape has always pulled me in. On certain albums more than others. But here, on their seventh studio record, they have finally put all of their parts together into a whole that is truly unique and representative of the strengths of all of the band members.
Tao of the dead is a monolith. Songs are packed with lush sweeping melodies and soaring thematic heights. Progressive in a very old school sense, things are kept interesting with new ideas being introduced seemingly every minute. Most of the songs on the album are of a fairly short length mixing together just about every genre of rock you can think of leading up to the last two songs which are long and winding cumulative final exams, blending together all the ideas brought forth in the body of the record to hit new heights for the genre as well as the band.
Trail of Dead have long been a band who plays music on it’s own terms. Something I can truly appreciate. They are unique because they don’t follow trends. This integrity is a rare occurrence and should be rewarded.
