My nemesis, my foe…power ballads. I’ve always been a fan of …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, but the last couple of albums have definitely pushed me away a bit. As Pitchfork says:
But if the early chapters of Trail of Dead’s history defied the usual indie-to-major sell-out script, their more recent history has sadly reverted to the usual clichés: First came the dismissal of bassist Neil Busch (the band’s unsung George Harrison/John Entwhistle figure) amid rumors of drug abuse, followed by two increasingly overblown albums (2005’s Worlds Apart and 2006’s So Divided) that steered the band into “November Rain” power-ballad territory and failed to capitalize on Source Tags‘ momentum. And where Trail of Dead shows used to climax with the orgiastic destruction of their equipment, they were starting to take their frustration out on each other.
Yep. Agreed. Good to hear they’re getting it back together, from the sounds of it.