So Divided [International Version]

Rating

Album: So Divided [International Version]
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Intro: A Song Of Fire And Wine	More Info...	1:42
2)	Stand In Silence	More Info...	4:34
3)	Wasted State Of Mind	More Info...	5:26
4)	Naked Sun	More Info...	6:03
5)	The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory	More Info...	2:14
6)	So Divided	More Info...	6:29
7)	Life	More Info...	5:59
8)	Eight Days Of Hell	More Info...	2:09
9)	Witch's Web	More Info...	4:11
10)	Seque: In the Realms of the Unreal	More Info...	2:19
11)	Sunken Dreams	More Info...	5:05
12)	Witch's Web Original Version	More Info...	4:48

Album: So Divided [International Version]
#	Song Title		Time
1)	Intro: A Song Of Fire And Wine	More Info...	1:42
2)	Stand In Silence	More Info...	4:34
3)	Wasted State Of Mind	More Info...	5:26
4)	Naked Sun	More Info...	6:03
5)	The Goldheart Mountaintop Queen Directory	More Info...	2:14
6)	So Divided	More Info...	6:29
7)	Life	More Info...	5:59
8)	Eight Days Of Hell	More Info...	2:09
9)	Witch's Web	More Info...	4:11
10)	Seque: In the Realms of the Unreal	More Info...	2:19
11)	Sunken Dreams	More Info...	5:05
12)	Witch's Web Original Version	More Info...	4:48

Performer Notes

And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead has always been a band that defies easy categorization. The Austin-based quartet made a name for itself in the late 1990s as an explosive live act with shows that would usually end in a pile of broken gear and bloodied bandmates. Five albums in--and three on the major label Interscope--the band has matured far beyond their early years with a series of high-concept song cycles, with an anything-goes approach being the only common musical thread.
Their previous outing, WORLDS APART, found them channeling their initial ragged and spastic live energy into prog-inflected art rock with orchestral flourishes, anthemic vocals, and bombastic tympani. With this latest release, SO DIVIDED, the band tempers the grandiosity--albeit only slightly--with an apparent classic Britpop jones (think Zombies, Soft Boys, and XTC) as if taking a cue from their fellow Austinites and former Merge labelmates, Spoon, and the results are a weird, ambitious, and hummable achievement.

Professional Reviews

Rolling Stone (p.124) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[The album] offers quieter indie patter and dark power pop with big dollops of art and atmosphere."

Spin (p.101) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "[I]t's a welcome sign of maturity that they're now flinging around inventive arrangements instead of splintering instruments."

Entertainment Weekly (p.109) - "Here, they show off their poppier tendencies with a cover of the Guided By Voices ballad 'Gold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory'..." -- Grade: B

Q (p.132) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[F]ittingly high-concept....Swerving wildly between psychedelic boogie, dreamy FM pop and thunderous atmospherics."

Alternative Press (p.139) - "Trail Of Dead announce their epic ambitions right off the top; after starting out a super-fuzzed rocker, 'Stand In Silence' suddenly takes a hard left into symphonic paisley-pop territory."