So...pretty good

Perhaps it's due to the extensive marketing for their (supposedly disappointing) compilation, Stop The Clocks, but with every listen to ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead's So Divided, I can't help but think of Oasis. It's not that the two sound similar per se. Rather, with So Divided, Trail Of Dead seem to have taken Oasis' road to success (for better or worse): forget originality, artistic merit or profound lyrics; just crank out visceral, well-crafted, satisfying rock that the listeners will like. Thus, before purchasing So Divided, you should consider where you fall in this dichotomy (don't worry -- there's no right answer).\nThe consensus among critics is that, stung by the poor reception of 2005's ambitious Worlds Apart, Trail Of Dead decided to craft something more crowd-pleasing. And, indeed, So Divided is. For one thing, non-song tracks are kept to a minimum (these are the mostly-crowd-noise introduction and "Segue: In The Dreams of the Unreal" which, like Radiohead's "Fitter Happier," is doomed to be deleted from one's playlist after the second listen). For another, propulsive drums, hooky riffs and fist-pumping choruses abound. "Stand In Silence," "Wasted State of Mind," "So Divided" and the Shins-esque "Eight Day Hell" simply demand stadiums full of head-banging, chanting fans.\nHowever, the flip-side is a lingering sense of déjà vu -- one is continually left asking "where have I heard this before?" It's not that Trail of Dead apes anyone specifically (no one that sprung to my mind, anyway), but that the songwriting employs such shop-worn elements. The blues riff in "Naked Sun" is so old, it was probably on Moses' desert-crossing mix-tape. And "Cold Heart Mountain Top Queen Directory" is an amalgamation of acoustic guitar/piano rock-ballad clichés. Worst, in as much as the lyrics have any meaning, it's standard whining about the hardships of touring.\nBut, then again, avant-garde noise-rock is much harder to sing along to...