And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - Source Tags & Codes

Source Tags & Codes could very well be the most important major label release of the past decade and the years to follow.

Every so often the boundaries between tranquillity and sheer chaos are blurred. Harmony is entangled with madness creating a more complex, unexplainable entity that one can only hope to fully understand. One a musical front, …Trail of Dead’s Source Tags & Codes is such an entity; so complicated, so chaotic, yet so beautiful and at peace all at the same time. Taking the listener to the edges of turmoil just long enough before pulling them back into the comforts and sensibilities of calmer plains (the track "Homage", violently loud and crashing until it hits you with it’s smooth transition). In waiting anticipation, the build up so subtle, the release so intricately divine, ("How Near How Far" with it’s machine gun drumming and eerie slowdowns) it leaves an earnest haunting feeling.

With Japanese Haiku acting as it’s predecessor, the brilliant "Heart in the Hand of the Matter" is captivating audio poetry. Shifting back and forth between heart clenching and melancholy, “I’m so damned. I can’t win. With my heart my hands down. Take your hurt. A muse or sin”. It’s followed by ‘Monsoon’, reminiscent of the Doors; it’s a lingering painting of words and music.

Within these levels, there is so much to be uncovered, so much to discover. The sounds of hard-hitting drums, striking guitar and bass work accompanied by unconventional vocals, tantalizing piano and orchestral violins and cellos are brought together in one magnificent collection. It is not often that chaos and beauty can be blurred together and still resonate so clearly, so terrifyingly in one’s ear. Source Tags & Codes could very well be the most important major label release of the past decade and the years to follow.

(Interscope Records)