:: The Secret of Elena’s Tomb

And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead

After blowing everyone away with last year’s release ‘Source Tags and Codes’…Trail decided that they haven’t quite finished us off, so upon returning home from our Australian shores they re-entered the studio with Mike McCarthy and began chipping away at a new EP. The Secret of Elena’s Tomb manages to touch on only some of what the future holds for these Austin chic art rock kids. Mach Schau kicks in delicately with intricately intertwining dual guitars and slowly works into the type of rawkus layered rock track we’ve come to expect from the boys, I find myself sitting back and getting lost in the splendour of the driving guitars and thunderous drums, this track has the sonic presence we’ve been thirsty for since ST&C. All Saints Day sheds a whole new light on what Jason’s normally raspy screaming vocals are capable of, singing with placid beauty throughout most of the track, only busting out on the screaming chorus then returning to calmer waters before ending in feedback (warning: don’t turn this up to full volume on your computer if you’re sitting right in front of it.)
Lesson learned as my hearing starts to return, the pace is slowed down a little with Crowning of A Heart. This track hints a little at the band’s growth, this mid-pace ballad, is soft, sweet, happy and harmonious in the same vein as the title track from Source Tags & Codes, Keely’s vocals are graceful throughout. Relaxing the mood even more Counting Off The Days is a short melancholy-ridden acoustic track, which again pushes the boundaries of what is expected from Trail, using a mix of pleasantly lethargic guitars, Keely’s choirboy soft vocals sounding genuinely emotional as he goes past his usual vocal range, the track ends with a superbly placed horn section. The EP closer is a standout electronic New Order-style track; Intelligence was previously released as a b-side on the Relative Ways EP - collaboration between Reece and friend Tyler Jacobson, which again covers previously uncharted waters for Trail of Dead that we never saw coming. Intelligence begins with a fresh sounding pensive riff as electronics start to emerge from the background, with Reece’s almost spoken lyrics but still showing the raw power of his voice laced with just a hint of sexiness in his pronunciation of words, before he unleashes the full beast within during the chorus with almost infinite energy, over a dance beat, an industrial disco-esque bass line with a drum machine (yes, that’s right, a drum machine!) and fuzzy guitar creates a nice live sounding track. If that’s not enough, the EP also has multimedia features with 3 film clips (including a live recording of their latest single All Saints Day), a sketches section by Conrad and another section ‘Other Secrets’ which can only be accessed if you’re connected to the net a secret part of their website which features ST&C player, news, tour dates among other fun things which I will leave you to discover. A must for any TOD fan!