Whilst this could be sincerely argued to be their finest hour put to record, it's a real eye-opening reminder of guitar music's potential to innovate.
Tao Of The Dead is Trail Of Dead taking the strengths and hallmarks of their 17 year career into one beautifully orchestrated concept and returning back to form.
Tao of the Dead finally channel their indulgences, creating a heroic symphony that sounds wholly constructed.
Tao of the Dead is a giant opus of fuzzy psych rock, meant to be imbibed over and over again as one giant piece of music, like some orchestral movement.
It's the work of a band remembering how to be both ambitious and effortless, how to try without appearing to be trying, without self-consciously drawing attention to itself.
Unique band keeps doing their thing. Alternative rock maybe not my cup of tea but I can recognize good tea... First AYWKUBTTOD album I enjoyed listening to as a whole, with intro, instrumentals and seagues. It's trippy, intense, epic, sprawling - what else do you want from a good speaker system? Turn on, tune in, drop out!
In a daring attempt to expand the palette of its listeners, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead made an indie rock album that does a great job at being adventurous, but also gets old very fast. The band does their best to use prog rock elements in their favor, but it ends up making the album very bloated and overdone. I think that there was a really good image in mind for Tao of the Dead, but the execution was too grand to be done correctly, and came out sort of ... read more
#37 | / | Drowned in Sound |