...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - The Century Of Self - review
...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - The Century Of Self - review
Tracklist
01. The Giants Causeway02. The Far Pavilions
03. Isis Unveiled
04. Halcyon Days
05. Bells of Creation
06. Fields of Coal
07. Inland Sea
08. Luna Park
09. Pictures of an Only Child
10. Insatiable (One)
11. Ascending
12. An August Theme
13. Insatiable (Two)
A review by
jupitreas May 14, 2009
It all starts quite brilliantly. "Giants Causeway" crescendos into "Far Pavilions", a song with a huge, reverberating sound and guitars that send seismic waves with their power. The Irish folk infused "Isis Unveiled" follows and is easily the best piece on this album, alternating between what New Model Army might sound like if they were a heavy shoegaze band with textured progressions of noise. "Halcyon Days" is a bit softer but sweeping dynamics make it another hit. But then... it's over. Shortstop's "Bell Of Creation" has clearly just rung and that's it. The remainder of the album is composed primarily of ballads featuring a generous use of piano and acoustic guitars. Shortstop's real character is exposed as every song is more pretentious and overwrought than the next, with a hint of desperation rearing its ugly head. Of course, these elements were there to begin with but now there is no muscle to carry them through. You can either politely wait for the CD to finish playing or just eject it and forget about it.
After listening to The Century Of Self I cant help but think that I've been duped, abused even, into enjoying it at first. Something tells me that while Shortstop enjoyed recording this very much indeed, all I get is a brief moment of fun but ultimately no satisfaction.
Comments
Comments:
6
Visited by
165 users
 Posts: 6941 |
Posts: 6941
"Since their name is so annoyingly long, I will from now on call this band Shortstop." Hahaha! Very cleverly written review. I hate being duped by bands into liking an album at first, only to find out the "real" album is something totally different. Nice metaphors 
---- "A life all mine Is what I choose At the end of my days" --The Gathering "A Life All Mine" from Souvenirs
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 Posts: 483 |
Posts: 483
Where is the band profile? i've heard some of their earlier work. good stuff.
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 Posts: 8004 |
Posts: 8004
I haven't heard this album (yet) but I must say the rest of their discography has that effect on me: it sounds really good at first, and then that impression wears off and it's just frustrating to see that the initial brilliance was just the sugar coating over a pile of crap. Once you get through the first layer it just tastes bad.
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Posts: 836  |
Posts: 836
Just 5 songs are interesting and the rest is not good?? I could check them out at reading the begining of the review then I lost the interest....
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 Posts: 4920 |
Posts: 4920
Yeah, nothing essential here, still it isn't bad.
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 Posts: 13427 |
Posts: 13427
"Halcyon Days" was an ok listen, but if that's one of the better songs on the album, I'm not gonna bother.
---- SLUDGE. DOOM. DEATH. Wait, what?  "The reason I'm running for president is because I can't be Bruce Springsteen." - Barack Obama
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