The Century of Self (2009)

Looking back at the creatively robust but commercially feeble six years Trail of Dead spent at Interscope, it'd be easy to claim the Austin oddball geniuses were misunderstood; in reality, they were simply misplaced. Sadly, a new home hasn't reignited their spark; Century of Self, as the title suggests, is indulgent and inward, lacking the dynamism and melodiousness of their 2005 masterpiece, Worlds Apart. There's early promise of a Dead revival in rocker ''Far Pavillions'' and the epic prog of ''Bells of Creation,'' but the album's meandering second half loses us as it loses itself. B–

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