IX

Band leader Conrad Keely insists the album title *IX* represents both the Texas group\'s ninth studio album and a planet in Frank Herbert’s *Dune*. It presents …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead as well-intentioned prog rockers who’ve learned to provide enough forward-thinking punk aggression to make the journey feasible. “Bus Lines” and the instrumental “How to Avoid Huge Ships” may wander from the shorter, sweet delivery of “The Doomsday Book” and “Lie Without a Liar,” but they’re jammed with classic rock drama. This approach works as personal catharsis and as sustained grandeur, proving the group are *the* step beyond Pink Floyd and Smashing Pumpkins.

After two albums that reinstituted Trail of Dead’s primordial crash-and-burn guitar carnage, with IX, the band is confident enough to take another stab at the cinemascopic, candelabra-lit pop that defined Trail of Dead’s muddled mid-period output. This time, though, they possess a lesson-learned sense of restraint.

Playing up to their former mantle of punk experimental mavericks with more determination than ever.

Conrad Keely’s youthful rage may have subsided as the years roll by, but he’s rarely written choruses as stridently magnificent as Life Without A Liar’s effortless refrain, while the understated Bus Lines pushes this knack for simple hooks into unexpectedly sedate pastures.

Album review: …And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - IX. These songs arrive with passionate hearts fit to burst...

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead - IX review: All work and no play makes Conrad a dull boy.