Well, here we are, Trail of Dead fans. The crossroads. That place where many a band comes right before a new album drops, with expectations caught in a schism due to a truly solid back catalogue, but a truly sordid last record.
...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, the Texas blitzkrieg rockers who've been bashing around on record since 1998's self titled debut, are on the verge of dropping its latest, sixth album, The Century of Self, on February 17th, three years after the almost universally panned So Divided, with its almost universally awkward anime-like cover art, seen here:
The record could go a few different ways. Hell, it could go in many different ways. For all we know, front man Conrad Keely spent the last three years listening to Tuvan throat singing and Europop and the new disc will sound like Ace of Base and we'll all kick ourselves and say "Those crazy art-punks, what'll they do next?"
Luckily, though, I don't think that's going to happen. In fact, it's looking like The Century of Self is going to kick ass. Like, a lot of ass.
SPIN.com just posted a track from the album, "Ascending," and it is damn good.
Check it out here.
The tune starts out in familiar Trail of Dead form: no warning, no guitar-strum intro, just a quick-punch dive into an angular, almost uncomfortable guitar attack paired with stuttering drums exploding like falling bombs.
The verses hit with traded vocals - a tactic too-often employed in god-awful emo mush. Here, though, it's done right: both vocal lines have distinct melodies, which intertwine, back and forth, forming one cohesive whole.
True to Dead's shooting-for-epic formula, the track slows down to a plodding, pulsing pace and marches steadily. The whole thing plays like a spunkier, less gigantic "Will You Smile for Me Again," Words Apart's best track.
All in all, "Ascending" deserves to be blasted from your speakers, as it has been from mine. For the past two hours.
Extra bonus: How cool is the new album's cover art? (Answer: very cool)
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