The Century of Self is the sixth album by ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead

…And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is an American alternative rock band from Austin, Texas. The chief creative members of the band are Jason Reece and Conrad Keely . The two switch between drumming, guitar and lead vocals, both on recordings and live shows...

.

Production and release

This is the first full-length release from Trail of Dead after their Interscope contract. It is also a departure from their studio production style:

"On the last two albums, we were really meticulous recording to click-tracks and doing overdubs...This time, we threw all that out. We learned the songs and all tracked [them] live."

To promote the album, a music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for the radio edit

Radio edit

In music, a radio edit is a modification to make a song more suitable for airplay, whether it be adjusted for length, profanity, subject matter, instrumentation, or form...

 of "Isis Unveiled" was released in April 2009.

It is the last studio album to feature co-founder and guitarist Kevin Allen

Kevin Allen

Kevin Allen may refer to:* Kevin Allen , Welsh-born English actor* Kevin Allen , American football player* Kevin Allen , American race car driver...

.

Design

Album art for The Century of Self was done entirely in blue ballpoint pen

Ballpoint pen

A ballpoint pen is a writing instrument with an internal ink reservoir and a sphere for a point. The internal chamber is filled with a viscous ink that is dispensed at its tip during use by the rolling action of a small sphere...

 by singer Conrad Keely

Conrad Keely

Conrad Keely is a British-born, American musician, known primarily as the lead singer for the rock band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. He is also an artist and writer...

.

Critical reaction

Critical reception to it so far has been more positive than the band's previous two efforts, So Divided

So Divided

So Divided is an album by ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead released on November 14, 2006. It saw the band continuing to expand its sound, along the lines of its predecessor Worlds Apart....

 and Worlds Apart

Worlds Apart

Worlds Apart is an album by ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead. It was released on January 25, 2005 by Interscope Records and reached #92 on the UK Album Chart....

. Clashmusic.com, the online arm of Clash

Clash (magazine)

Clash is a popular music and fashion magazine based in the United Kingdom. Its magazine title is published 12 times a year. It has a circulation of around 40,000....

 magazine, commented:

"The Century of Self is an album with an accomplished sense of completion – a rolling score of disparate tracks segueing into a focused, poignant collective. And for all its scintillating, visceral energy, it’s an album that remains poised and impending, balanced by majestic composition and a patient anticipation for demolishing everything it builds."

The Fly

The Fly (magazine)

The Fly is a free music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. The magazine is published by the HMV owned MAMA Group.The magazine started as a listings leaflet in Camden, north London, for the Barfly music venue on Chalk Farm Road...

 magazine, meanwhile, awarded the record February's Album of the Month, saying that "The Century of Self underlines why they remain one of the world's most vital, daring and ambitious rock bands." Conrad Keely provided an exclusive illustration to go with The Flys review, as well as an exclusive track-by-track analysis of the album in The Skinny ahead of its release.

Slant Magazine

Slant Magazine

Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...

 gave the album 2.5 out of 5, stating that "Century of Self is at times a stirring, effective rock album, familiar but stable, but the band's general creativity is less vital than they think, and rather than settle down they continue a fussy streak of projects loaded with hollow, stilted ambition".

The now defunct Blender magazine

Blender (magazine)

Blender was an American music magazine that billed itself as "the ultimate guide to music and more". It was also known for sometimes steamy pictorials of celebrities....

 criticized the direction of the band and the album's sound, "There was a time, about six years ago, when this hyperdramatic Texas band seemed like their apocalyptic noise-rock had something meaningful to communicate. That time is long gone". It received only 2 out of 5.

Track listing

1. "The Giants Causeway"† - 2:38
2. "The Far Pavilions" - 4:54
3. "Isis Unveiled" - 6:27
4. "Halcyon Days" - 6:36
5. "Bells of Creation" - 5:23
6. "Fields of Coal" - 3:42
7. "Inland Sea" - 4:08
8. "Luna Park" - 4:22
9. "Pictures of an Only Child"‡ - 4:43
10. "Insatiable (One)"‡ - 2:02
11. "Ascending" - 4:47
12. "An August Theme" - 0:50
13. "Insatiable (Two)" - 3:03

Track details

† A truncated version of "The Betrayal of Roger Casement & the Irish Brigade" from the Festival Thyme

Festival Thyme

Festival Thyme is an EP precursor to the full-length album The Century of Self by the American art-rock band ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead...

 EP.

‡ The tracklisting on the digipak back cover is incorrect, as it switches "Pictures of an Only Child" and "Insatiable (One)". The lyrics in the booklet keep the correct running order.

Alternate edits of "Bells of Creation" and "Inland Sea" are also included on Festival Thyme.

"I'm the monster, and I exist/On this summit, I am lost" on "Insatiable (Two)" refers to the Orang Pendek

Orang Pendek

Orang Pendek is the most common name given to a cryptid, or cryptozoological animal, that reportedly inhabits remote, mountainous forests on the island of Sumatra....

, a cryptid which lyricist Conrad Keely believes will be discovered in the next decade.

Personnel

Songs by: Jay Leo Phillips

Apollo Up!

Apollo Up! is a post-punk or pop-punk indie music band based in Nashville, Tennessee, chronologically aligned with the post-punk revival of the early 21st century. Billboard.com describes the band as post-hardcore: "cerebral but impassioned," with tricky song structures and unexpected dynamic shifts...

, Clay Morris, Kevin Allen, Conrad Keely, Jason Reece and Aaron Ford.

Engineers: Chris Coady

Chris Coady

Considered by The Guardian one of the next ten generation producers, Chris Coady is an upcoming producer/engineer, who has worked with Yeah Yeah Yeahs, TV on the Radio, !!!, Grizzly Bear and Blonde Redhead among many others...

; Jason Buntz; David Tolomei; Jim Volentine; Frenchie Smith.

Additional vocals by: Dragons of Zynth

Dragons of Zynth

Dragons of Zynth is an American indie rock band from Cleveland, Ohio.-History:Dragons of Zynth's frontmen, Aku and Akwetey, are twins and were raised in Cleveland, OH. The group first won notice opening for TV on the Radio in 2005...

, Yeasayer

Yeasayer

-History:The band's three core members, Chris Keating, Ira Wolf Tuton, and Anand Wilder, first came to attention after appearing at the SXSW festival in early 2007. Their first single consisted of a double A-side of the tracks "Sunrise" and "2080"...

 Brenda Radney  Jonathan Nesvadba, Joel Nesvadba and Paul Banks

Paul Banks

Paul Julian Banks is an English American musician, best known as the lead singer, lyricist and guitarist of the rock band Interpol. He is also a solo artist under the name Julian Plenti. As a singer, Banks' voice lies in the baritone range.-Early life:Banks was born in Clacton-on-Sea, Essex, England...

 

Recorded at: Bubble Studios, Austin TX.

Chart history

Chart (2009)	Peak position
US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	169
US Billboard Billboard (magazine) Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...  Independent Albums	22

See also

• The Century of the Self
  The Century of the Self
  The Century of the Self is an award winning British television documentary film. It focuses on how Sigmund Freud, Anna Freud, and Edward Bernays influenced the way corporations and governments have thought about,‭ dealt with, and controlled ‬people....
  
   (2002)
• The Far Pavilions
  The Far Pavilions
  The Far Pavilions is an epic novel of British-Indian history by M. M. Kaye, first published in 1978, which tells the story of an English officer during the Great Game. The novel, rooted deeply in the romantic epics of the 19th century, has been hailed as a masterpiece of storytelling...
  
   (1978)
• Giant's Causeway
  Giant's Causeway
  The Giant's Causeway is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns, the result of an ancient volcanic eruption. It is located in County Antrim on the northeast coast of Northern Ireland, about three miles northeast of the town of Bushmills...
  
  
• Halcyon days
  Halcyon Days
  Halcyon Days is a collaborative album by the ambient musicians Steve Roach, Stephen Kent and Kenneth Newby. This album was recorded in the period from December 17 to 28, 1995...
  
  

External links

• The Century of Self Unveiled: Track-By Track With Conrad Keely at The Skinny