Swept away and seemingly lost

It's a barely-perceptible line that separates expression from histrionics. It's a dangerous undertaking to attempt a follow-up to a resounding success, almost as dangerous as it is to reach far beyond your grasp. Worlds Apart, the new release from 2002's skull-cracking indie werewolves ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead is a flawed achievement that runs afoul of these lines.\nWhen it's good, it's as if you've discovered a secret: the best band in the world. When it's bad, however, Worlds Apart is so painfully bad that it's almost traitorous.\nThere are two missteps on Worlds Apart: the first is the pretense, which can be seen in the flourishes and segues with children laughing, children speaking in Russian, animal noises and a sequence of a woman screaming hysterically. \nThese would be forgivable if it weren't for the next crack in the plaster -- the title track is the worst song that Trail of Dead has ever written. "Worlds Apart" starts with kids' laughter being cut off with "Hey, fuck you MAN!" and proceeds to criticize MTV celebrities and soccer moms with some of the worst lyrics I've ever heard.\nIt's no joke -- this song sounds like Wheatus and the All-American Rejects collaborated to mangle Good Charlotte's super-secret 8th grade poetry, and it's the first single! To say it's bad is to scratch the surface with a toothpick. It's a disgrace, and what's worse is that it's sandwiched between two very accomplished songs.\nThe album culminates in "Caterwaul," a Boys Vs. Girls-esque head-stomping blowout with a riff from hell. Along the way you'll find the nearly "Rocket Man"-like "All White" and a closer that honestly sounds like French lounge gods Air. They've moved in a strange and baffling direction.\nThe album swings back and forth between balladry and abject destruction, and save for the scream, a throwaway instrumental and, of course, the stomach-churning title track, Worlds Apart is a powerful emotional statement of lost youth, longing and discontent, a cathartic inferno.\nStill, I get the impression that Trail of Dead had no idea of where to go after their last release, which hamstrings what could have been an amazing album. Where the Arcade Fire emotes impotently, Trail of Dead could have laid valiant waste.\nInstead, it's a shaky achievement full of unnecessary shortcomings, unpolished and sometimes truly bad. It's self-revelation, warts and all -- I just hope that these warts aren't the precursors of cancer, decay or predictability. With a band this markedly unpredictable, that would be an absolute tragedy.