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Century of Self is a statement on several fronts for Trail of Dead. First off, the band’s sixth album was released on their own label, Richter Scale (with help from Justice Records), and no doubt some of that sense of renewed vitality that spikes Century is due to being free from major Interscope. More importantly, however, is the statement made by the music, which confidently unleashes an epic storm. Even at their wildest and most cathartic moments, the sextet remains firmly in control, intensely layering the fury and interweaving calmer moments that nonetheless pack just as much of an emotional punch.
The instrumental opener “Giant Causeway” builds like a gathering storm, slowly climaxing into epic proportions that breaks with the guitar crash of “Far Pavilions.” The moody punk borders on screamo, but is reigned in by the heavy drums and quick ebb and flow of the rhythm. “Isis Unveiled” follows suit with more abrasive edge, which paired with the subsequent “Halcyon Days” makes up the thirteen minute core of the album. If you can make it through the first four songs, the rest feels a gentle summer’s day by comparison, but this is a case of forging your way through the darkness before you begin to see any light. The mythic and bloody insistence through these songs can get heavy-handed, as with lyrics on “Isis Unveiled” like “I am a jealous god who placed the demons in hell and the angels in heaven by my side.” But then this is …Trail of Dead, so you kind of expect those kind of awkward sentiments, and when the chant of “pardon all of them” comes in against the pounding of heavy machinery, like iron across an anvil, the line is repeated with such weary and resigned inflection that it’s clear there is much more going on with the song than any type of typical emo-prog.
The other element that raises this album above the flock and holds some of the more dramatic lyrics at bay is the stunning drama that unfolds musically. The Sturm und Drang of “Halcyon Days” remarkably manipulates through brutal bursts and the calm calamity surging underneath. The album is one continuous scrawl of tension, gathered and released in constant and magnificently constructed interplay. “Bells of Creation” rocks a bit smoother, or at least more consistently, across its five-and-a-half minutes, giving way to the much less accosting, but also somewhat less enticing, back half of the album.
“Fields of Coal” settles into a grittier hush, more melodic behind the bursting, anthemic harmonies of the chorus. It may be the most accessible song on the album, but also the most bare and emotional feeling. And though the high range trill of “Inland Sea” is cringing and atrocious, the mellow lull of “Luna Park” works surprisingly well. The organ and almost shoegaze feel (even a touch of Dean Wareham in the low key vocals at the beginning), strikes an even keel that makes the slowly evolving growl all the more effective. Likewise, “Pictures of an Only Child” seems to find the middle ground between the two, propelled by an understated melodic droning vocal that, through the verses at least, sounds like Red House Painters, before the chorus strips the walls with turpentine.
The haunted, Black Heart Procession-esque piano waltzes of “Insatiable One” and “Insatiable Two” neither one carry much weight, unfortunately, but the sudden explosion and shouted lyrics of “Ascending” sets things back on pace and into more familiar ToD territory. While The Century of Self certainly has its dissapointing moments, with the album clocking in at over 53 minutes, there is more than enough meat on these tunes to feed the wolves. And more importantly, the album’s highlights are indeed that, some of the best songs of their career. It seems ToD has finally begun to find themselves again.
Websites:
www.trailofdead.com
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