Author: Crossfire

Just a couple of weeks ago Crossfire witnessed Conrad Keely and Jason Reece, the two remaining founding members of …And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead, blow the grotty top off the London Astoria for a final time. Playing stripped down to just one guitar, drums and vocals in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it three song set, the Texan duo effortlessly disgraced every other act to ill-advisedly follow them, as the legendary venue let punters pass through it’s nicotine and sweat stained doors for one last time.

There are those who will argue that Trail of Dead’s last two albums (‘World Apart’ in 2005 and ‘So Divided‘ in 2006) failed to touch on the sheer and unquestioned excellence of 2002’s ‘Source Tags and Codes’. Those people are, in our opinion, absolutely wrong, but regardless the unanimous initial response to the band’s newest offering ‘The Century of Self’ has been cries of a much welcomed return to form. From the regal and foreboding opening stomp of ‘Giants Causeway‘ to the waltzing solace of ‘Insatiable Two’, Trail of Dead’s latest offering is enchanting and captivating, wrought with drama and upliftingly opulent. Gripping from the first moment right to the last, Keely and co have come up with an album that truly proves and qualifies the respect, hype and loyalty they have procured over the past six albums and ten years in being.

Having parted ways with major label Interscope and instead opting to release the new record on tiny german label Superball, Trail of Dead are well and truly back at the helm of their creation. In a climate where music seems increasingly ephemeral, it’s refreshing and relieving to be reminded that truly falling in love with a band, growing up to the soundtrack they create and never for one minute being disappointed by them is still entirely possible… Trail of Dead, we salute you.

Trotty P.

When I think of a Night Terror the music that can be heard on this album doesn’t come to mind. Helms Alee‘s first release is far from a terror, it’s a 10 song long soundscape that takes you on a journey comparable to Lord of the Rings. The songs range from being fuelled by heavy guitars and drums to quiet “twinkly” riffs. The high contrast of music on this album is both compelling and mesmerising.

The band share vocal duties between two of them, one being a lower male voice often bellowing out words, the other words are sung beautifully by a woman, which can completely change the tone of a song! Not only that but it’s a very rare occurrence when you hear a woman’s voice on this type of music, and its scarcely heard when such a good voice can accompany such loud music so well.

One band that springs to mind when listening to this album is Converge, mainly their more ambient music when they experiment with different vocal techniques. Night Terror is another release on Hydrahead Records and fans of the label should definitely like this band, they encompass the sound you’d normally hear from a Hydrahead band but also add a completely new depth to the music by experimenting with a variety of different techniques.

In the song Grandfather Claws the music stops, the drums play a different beat and for a moment I felt like I was listening to a stadium anthem, then it kicks back in with more ferocious guitars as if nothing had happened! This is a great technique that I’ve never heard by a band like this; although it’s only for a few seconds it added a whole new level to the song.

Other songs equally as impressive were Rogue’s Yarn, Paraphrase and Wild Notes (which uses only a piano and vocals, adding even more eclecticism to this album), these were the three that stood out the most to me. However the whole album is definitely a great piece of work and a hell of a lot of thought must have been put into it! The songs are narcotic, the music is innovative and all around impressive, this band are definitely worth the time of day.

Jonathan Teggert

The first thing I noticed about this band was the fact their press release said A.J. Mogis produced them; it also said that he produced Bright Eyes and Cursive. Straight away I knew this band could be very good, and I wasn’t wrong! Fake Problems‘ new album It’s Great to be Alive is an array of instruments put together to make a great folk/punk/indie album. Working with A.J. definitely pulled off!

The album kicks off with 1234, which is short and sweet at only 73 seconds long. It’s a great opener that kicks the album off to a great pace. It has brass instruments, what sounds like a xylophone and a catchy chorus, what more do you want from an album opener? It then continues into The Dream Team which is even catchier and has an easily singalongable chorus. The bridge even has a cowbell and clapping, with that you can’t help but sing along.

A few of the songs have religious undertones to them and other lyrical content brings a really nice traditional quality to the band. Everything seems to have a certain groove about it, which will surely be filling the dance floors. Sometimes the band ditches their orchestral amount of instruments and goes back to good old humming, although it might sound odd written down it works well with the music. One more thing about this band that impresses me is how short some of the songs are, a lot of the time bands like to extend their songs with egotistic build-ups to choruses and long bridges instead of just cutting to the chase and delivering the music. Fake Problems definitely do deliver.

Fake Problems definitely seem to have mastered how to write a good catchy song and make it their own. Upon listening to older songs on their myspace I can tell how much they’ve evolved musically, going from more generic indie songs into a genre of their own, no double-barrelled word can sum up this band! If you are a fan of folk/punk/blues/indie/rock anything with anthemic quality then It’s Great to be Alive is the album for you.

They use instruments in their plenitude, guitars, drums, trumpets, trombones, saxophones, xylophones, violins, organs, if you can think of an instrument it’s probably used on here. This album is definitely in a league of its own against its competitors and I’m sure the effort will pay off. It’s uplifting, catchy, innovative, original and fresh, what more could you really ask for?

Jonathan Teggert