I’m no … And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead fanboy, but I’ve hardly been the band’s harshest detractor during its prolonged critical downturn. I half-enjoyed 2005 flop Worlds Apart, and even managed to find value in near-universally dismissed ’06 follow-up So Divided. Which should tell you a lot about new disc The Century of Self, which I will now set about panning.
Hailed here and there as a return to early form, Century indeed finds Trail of Dead back on DIY footing (as release No. 1 for in-house imprint Richter Scale Records). Still, it sounds light years less “indie,” not to mention interesting, than classic 2002 Interscope debut Source Tags & Codes. We get loads of a-whole-lot-is-happening-at-once punky prog implanted with sweeping vocals aimed at being epic all the damn time. Which, of course, they can’t (and typically don’t).
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Broken down, Century boasts a few worthwhile bits (thus the second star); the hammer-on-anvil breakdown in “Isis Unveiled,” for example, jibes nicely with the song’s call-to-arms spirit. The grand sing-along midway through “Halcyon Days” also comes on pretty adroitly, even if it ultimately sounds better-suited for My Chemical Romance.
Taken as a whole, The Century of Self feels dreadfully tedious; all but the staunchest supporters should find its 54 minutes an impossible task for a single sitting. If I hadn’t already deleted it from my iPod I’d re-tag it The Century of Self-Indulgence.
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