...Trail of Dead - Worlds Apart.

loooove cicierega's 'best' but yeah he missed a trick not throwing this in too haha

woulda been funny if trail of dead pulled a killing joke on them

god there are so many segues on this thing, I swear it's half segues

every time I revisit this I do find the second half mostly a slog. "a classic art showcase" is a not great rock song stapled onto a kinda boring string part. I don't really get "the best".

"lost city of refuge" is one of their best songs though

if I were managing them I would have been extremely direct with them during this period lol

I don't like this album because it's the first album where they noticeably shifted away from their Sonic Youth / Unwound influences and to me it's so angsty in a way where it makes their older stuff sound more tasteful and mature in comparison. Last thing I loved by them was Secret of Elena's Tomb.

If I’m not mistaken this album came with a bonus dvd of them touring and there was a scene where I think they were at some festival trying to bum music gear so they could play and other bands were wary of loaning because of their destructive set tendencies.

they noticeably shifted away from their Sonic Youth / Unwound influences

yeah their pivot to (purposely?) sound more mainstream is closer to...like the gothy end of Blink-182 lol

Not sure if Simon still posts here but anyway I didn't mean "mainstream" - more that it was like their collective influences completely changed suddenly; as if all the members got replaced by people with totally different musical backgrounds who were still tasked with making their own idea of "trail of dead" records.

It's worth hearing their later albums. The influences you like fluctuate, but they're never too far away

imago otm, I actually thought last year's Bleed Here Now was one of their best in quite some time

IX might be my favourite of their albums full stop

I need to revisit that one, came at a weird time and I'm not sure I ever gave it enough time.

One thing I'm struck by is how consistent they've been. All their albums are at least quite good.

I forget about this band in between thread bumps. Time for another binge.