At first I was skeptical as fuck. I mean hell, a mellow Trail of Dead album? Sounds horrible at first. But holy shit. The melodies are just lodged in my brain right now. I'm completely loving this. I've never been the biggest Trail of Dead fan, I mean maybe I just didn't listen to them when I was in the right mood. I've always had respect for them, they're a good band. They just didn't connect with me before.

Gave it one full listen and it defiantely caught me. I will enjoy digesting this over the next couple of weeks. I was not at all excited about this album and wasn't really paying attention that it was coming out, but I'm glad I grabbed it. The band is definately finding a sound for itself beyond the "play fast, scream loud and break your instruments" era they once enjoyed. I like the progression from: Source Tages --> World's Apart --> So Divded. Very natural, actually, if you sit down and listen and think about it.

funny, but that's exactly how i used to feel about them too. i started with source tags and codes, and it kinda just sounded like an art school at the drive-in knock-off. i saw them in concert on that year's tour and they were good, but it was more spectacle than anything else that drew me in. it took about fifteen or twenty listens 'til it connected.

if you want, i can try and up the album if you want to give it another shot; it's definitely worth it. it's one of those albums that, under the right circumstances, will crawl under your skin. remind you of failed relationships, things like that. easily the equal of any of this decade's other highwater marks.

I have a Trail of Dead shirt that I've been too ashamed to wear ever since Worlds Apart leaked. Maybe they can get back on track on this album.

If by "mellow Trail of Dead" you mean something like the "the chain's been broken/one by one" part in Totally Natural, than I need to hear this album today.

I didn't even know this leaked, thanks for the heads up.

I either like or love everything they've done, including Worlds Apart, so this should be pretty great.

worlds apart ------------ so divided

lame, lame album titles

Well I'll give source tags another listen in due time though. Just right now, the stuff on So Divided like "Witches Web" has just completely captured me. It's almost as if the album leaked just in time to catch my current mood. The female backing vocals on Witches Web are just so beautiful. They just hit me. I can't even explain it.

anyone want to up this for me? I can't find it.
thanks

was not too interested in this through 3 listens last night.

loved Madonna, Source Tags is quite good as well... Worlds Apart had a couple great tracks but on the whole sucked.

Yeah, World's Apart was a disaster. Hopefully this is better. But it wouldn't take much.

Is So Divided better than the self-titled? Is World's Apart better than the self-titled? Use your magic <> signs if you wish.

I bought the self-titled and it was a letdown compared to ST&C. Haven't tried Worlds Apart thanks to the bad feedback I heard about it.

The self-titled is their worst. I think Worlds Apart is pretty great though; pretentious but the songs are strong.

get Madonna

I'm listening to So Divided right now for the first time, and so far I'm really enjoying it. I'll have to listen to it a couple more times (and finish the first time) before I get a real opinion, but so far it's definately pretty awesome.

i love ST+C but have never heard worlds apart. i'd like to check out this record though

this is pretty bad so far

wtf is Naked Sun????????

not enough upping going on right now

After completing one listen, it's not too great, though we'll see, it may be a grower. It really seemed to list a lot in the middle. After it finished, iTunes went right on into ST&C, and just the opening bit of It Was There That I Saw You highlighted how much of a a better record ST&C is.

it would be wrong to compare this album to source tags. heck, it would be wrong to compare any album to source tags. you can feel the inspiration on that album; it's near religious. source tags was perfect, near perfect. in comparison, even the early discs sound crude and lumpen.

what this one has that worlds apart is a shared sense of religious furvor. many of the songs, naked sun in particular, stretch out so long that the initial bursts subside into these calming, chanted near-mantras. i was in a hospital waiting room when i first listened to this album and it reminded me a little of the last animal collective album. except coherent, fully formed.

the only real reason this album will catch any flack is indie snobdom. same as worlds apart. just be happy they aren't strip mining source tags over and over again to increasingly diminishing results.

Well-put post, tomato. Post more often.

was that a cover of Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory I heard this morning? Kick ass.....

Yup. I think thats what makes me the most curious to hear this disc. I don't think Worlds Apart deserved the huge critical bashing it took, I think it was just overreacting for the unwarranted heaps of praise after Source Tags.

upon first listen I was surprised at how melodic the album was, but I also had a nagging sense that I would not be returning to the album much if at all. The songs are far too long, and I start to press the skip ahead button after 4 tracks or so. It's just much different for them, which is what catches the ear at first.

Source Tags > Madonna > S/T > So Divided > Elena's Tomb > Worlds Apart

thanks

i'm trying; been lurking for far too long. it's a new year (in the jewish sense), i'm making amends...

Shocking thought. Checked the leaked albums thread.

Source Tags and Madonaa are great, Worlds Apart sucked, and So Divided is pretty decent.
Wasted State Of Mind has been stuck in my head for the past few days.

Yeah that songs great. My top three tracks are probably Wasted State of Mind, Eight Day Hell, and Witches Web.

Let's get this out of the way right now: i find it hard to believe this is the same Trail of Dead that recorded ST&C. Listening to So Divided alongside that album, one would be forgiven for thinking that these are the works of two different bands.

<ahem>

BUT...

I'm starting to think that World's Apart wasn't the "sound of confusion" that some reviewer(s) labeled it as; maybe it's just me, but So Divided sounds like the work of a band who are pretty damn comfortable with the music they are making. The more i listen to So Divided, the more i find myself going back and listening to it some more. As with the (unfairly) critically-panned World's Apart, this record is not without problems. For one thing, it sometimes comes across as a scattershot. In exploring new territories, both records find the band stumbling occassionally. This is accentuated by some needless theatrics which, frustratingly, suggest a band that is either overly pretentious or under confident in their own sound (I maintain that the latter is the case).

BUT...

I firmly believe that this is the most exciting statement that Trail of Dead could have made at this point. As a long-time fan, it is reassuring to know that they are not resting on their laurels, especially when it would have been easy to simply replicate ST&C-- and ESPECIALLY after their follow-up to that album received the lashing that it did. Tracks such as "Wasted State of Mind" and "Life" are brilliant in their own right, but their beauty is compounded by the fact that they are such a divergence from the band's old sound. If World's Apart was the exploration of foreign musical territories, then So Divided finds Trail of Dead standing confidently on new ground. If their legs are still a bit shaky, then that merely comes with the new territory. Given a little more time, i believe that Trail of Dead have another definitive statement left in them.

Really enjoying this album through the first two listens. Anyone else think Eight Day Hell sounds a lot like The Polyphonic Spree? I can totally hear Tim and his cult get into that one.

this blogs got a track from the new album, "ascending"

http://onethirtybpm.com/2009/01/27/mp3-and...dead-ascending/

on first listen, wow...sounds reallllllly good. thanks to "bells of creation" and now this, my hopes have been raised considerably.

I definately dig this song. Very ATDI with the backing vocals.

fucking awesome song

Whoa, i had completely forgotten how much i initially praised So Divided until i bumped this thread. Unfortunately, my opinion of it didnt quite remain so positive. Although i still think there are great tracks on it, i have in time reluctantly admitted the fact that it was a misstep for the band. If Century of Self is any good (and the leaked tracks are pointing to yes), ill be more willing to see So Divided as having been a much-needed misstep. And i still think Worlds Apart is better than most people admit.

This is a good band.

Anybody seen them live lately? I'm thinking of checking them out at the Logan Square Auditorium in a couple of months.

I saw them open for QOTSA with The Burning Brides and it was one of the best shows I've ever seen. The Burning Brides were another awesome newish band at the time and had just rereleased their great debut album, Fall of the Plastic Empire. I loved the first 3 TOD albums and even named one of my men's league basketball teams after the band but haven't really listened much since. I did a listen to ST&C on the way to work today though and am going to give their entire catalogue another go over tonight.

I saw them at a warehouse party about three years ago. Just before So Divided came out I think. It was great because the party was for some stupid skate magazine so all these wiggers were there only when the band went on they all left to dance in the other room because some shit dj was in there. So about 8 of us stayed to watch Trail of Dead, and it was amazing. They melted faces that night. The acoustics in the all-cement warehouse sounded absolutely terrible. But it was still fun to get such a high-energy show out of them for such a small crowd.

That said, I can't wait for the new record. The last EP was promising, and I have a good feeling about this release.

Clearly you've never been to San Diego.