...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead start off with reverb set to ten for the recognisable hit from 2005's Worlds Apart Will You Smile Again. With eight albums to assist them in picking a set packed full of hits it seems strange that such a show has failed to sell out. Old tracks that go down especially well include Worlds Apart, also taken from Worlds Apart, and A Perfect Teenhood which inspires a repeated "fuck you", chanted loudly by their following, as the song finishes with this line and goes clattering into a shed-full of noise. Their riffs often give way to walls of sound, that leave a ringing behind in your ears for days to come, before marching drum beats lead us back into more hook laden riffs. Riffs that on occasion leave gaps, in which giant drum fills are inserted to astound the crowd.
The new songs we bear witness to tonight seem to merge into one another, making it difficult to review them separately. They certainly included punk beats and ended at short notice. Like getting off a speedy roller coaster it was over before you knew it. The highlight of these new songs that were recorded in Hanover, Germany, would have to be a calming mid section not dissimilar to sounds found on Smashing Pumpkins' Siamese Dream. What stands out about these tracks is the way in which the rhythm of the riffs change as opposed to any changes in the tune that take place. This counters the revelation that a number of the new songs utilise South East Asian tuning.
Caterwaul is neither perfect nor polished when it is performed tonight, but it gets the audience jumping regardless, as Jason Reece takes over lead vocals. He swaps his guitar for Jamie Miller's drum kit, which includes two snares, on several occasions tonight. Leaving lead singer, Conrad Keely, stuck to his guitar all night. The next song which they play slightly sloppily surprisingly gets an even greater riot-like response from the crowd as a mosh pit emerges! Sweat drips from the ceiling as Keely sings "I've got this feeling that I'm gonna..." leaving the explosive music to complete the line. Which might have read "cower as demons fly in right and left" if my musical interpretation skills haven't left me. The climax of the show however is when Reece takes the mic up to the barrier to sing along with the crowd to Totally Natural taken from their 13 year old album Madonna. The sing along dissipates into nightmarish guitar searing sound at extreme volume levels before they build up again, with the aid of Miller's ugly imprecise guitar work, into a frenzy. Before they walk off to leave Keely alone on stage to conclude with a small strummed part.