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To describe 'Lost Songs' as a return to form would be a little disingenuous. Throughout their career, Trail Of Dead have maintained an admirable level of quality control, with not a single bad album in their discography - even their 'will this do?' contractual obligation album
So Divided
is speckled with moments of greatness.
However, 'Lost Songs' is still a return of sorts. With this album, Trail Of Dead are harking back to a time when their riffs came hard and fast, before the orchestras and choirs came along to flesh out their sound. This is without a doubt their hardest album since
Source Tags & Codes
- and, quite possibly, their best collection of songs to date.
Straight from the off, the album builds tension before releasing in a flurry of frenetic activity. This pace is scarcely let up - even when the fury subsides, such as on 'Flower Card Games', an atmosphere of menace remains, building minute by minute as the guitars begin to churn.
There are certain comparisons that can be made to other acts - the aforementioned 'Flower Card Games' has shades of Slint, whilst 'Up To Infinity' carries aspects of At The Drive-In - but as a whole, this is a product of no other band than Trail themselves. At their absolute best, on songs such as 'Open Doors', 'Pinhole Cameras' and the impassioned title track, ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead are unassailably untouchable, harking back to a time before emo became a dirty word whilst simultaneously creating songs that defy glib categorisation. This is heavy stuff, certainly, but the gulf between 'Lost Songs' and your average punk, rock or metal album is huge.
Whether or not you should buy this album is redundant - if you are an existing Trail fan, or just a lover of loud guitars and solid, pacy songwriting, this purchase should make itself. There is only one question you should be asking yourself - two CD or not two CD?
Much like previous album
Tao Of The Dead (Limited Edition)
, 'Lost Songs' comes as either the vanilla one CD edition, or a lusciously-packaged, but noticeably more expensive two CD edition - one disc with the album in full, and a second with the same tracks, but arranged differently and mixed so that the tracks segue seamlessly from one to the next. The entirety of the album proper is contained on the single disc edition, but the extras on the larger package are not without their charm.
Firstly, there are four additional tracks that come at the end of the main event - 'Skywhaling', a pretty if inconsequential bit of psychedelia; the Led Zep-ish 'Mountain Battle Song'; 'Verschollene Songs', a lo-fi German redux of the title track; and the swaggering 'Idols Of Perversity'. The segued album on the second disc is an interesting and mostly successful experiment - the flow of the album is shifted with the altered track list, and two of the four bonus tracks are promoted to the main show to mix things up even further - though this does not change the fact that you are buying the same songs twice. If you are a listener that prizes value over artistic statement, the one disc edition might be more suited to your tastes.
In addition to the music, the discs are packaged alongside a novella, written by founding Trail member Conrad Keeley. Though it won't be troubling the Booker Prize selection committee any time soon, it is still an interesting and diverting piece of fiction, and certainly more than one should expect from the typical limited edition album set.
The decision, then, is yours: buy the single CD to enjoy the meat of the album, or the double disc set to embrace the band's entire vision. One way or another, just buy this album.
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