And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead: Conrad Keely, Kevin Allen, Jason Reece, Neil Busch.

Engineers include: Andy Taub, Mooka & Cheryle Rennick, Barry McClellen.

Personnel: David Angel, Carl Gorodetzky, Pamela Sixfin, David Davidson (violin); Kris Wilkinson String Section (viola); John Catchings, Anthony LaMarchina (cello); Jim Hoke (tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone); John Painter (trumpet, flugelhorn); Eric Darken (timpani, percussion); Jim Olsen (background vocals).

Audio Mixer: Mike McCarthy.

Recording information: Brooklyn Bridge Studio, Austin, TX; Deepfield Studio, Nashville, TN; Masterdisk Studios, New York, NY; Prarie Sun Studio, Cotati, CA.

Editor: Roger Lian.

Intricate and reflective as well as gripping and raw, Source Codes & Tags marks And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead's leap from the venerable indie imprint Merge to Interscope's major-label territory. It's a seamless transition, mixing the sweeping, fearlessly anthemic qualities of their previous work with a newfound sheen that actually makes the music's earnest roughness stand out more. Sculpted, gorgeous-yet-gritty melodies drive quintessentially AYWKUBTTOD epics like "Another Morning Stoner," "How Near, How Far," "Relative Ways," and the title track. But Source Codes & Tags isn't so much a more accessible version of the band's sound as it is a more streamlined one; the surging guitars on songs like "It Was There That I Saw You" are even more powerful for their economy. Yet the album's more refined sound doesn't prevent the group from expanding and experimenting -- driven by a stomping rhythm and a raunchy riff, the dangerously sexy "Baudelaire" is the most straightforwardly "rawk" thing And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead has done to date, while "Days of Being Wild" and "Homage" mix old-school hardcore with sullen, dreamlike passages. The band hasn't forsaken its artiness, either, linking nearly every song with interludes of found sounds and adding strings, accordions, and other unique flourishes to the arrangements. A driving, incredibly solid album, Source Tags & Codes proves just how much more the members of AYWKUBTTOD have to say -- they're just as combustible as they were on their debut, but now express themselves with a clarity that makes their intensity all the more breathtaking. ~ Heather Phares

Don't be put off by the unwieldy name; ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead aren't out for blood, they just want to mess you up a bit. The band's hard-hitting sound, a purposefully over-the-top mixture of punk, goth, thrash, and Sonic Youth-style avant rock, is just jarring enough to make you stand up and take notice of the collective angst being vented, but just accessible enough to appeal to those whose ears have been realigned by years of high volume. Hell, a big label like Interscope wouldn't have signed them if they didn't think they could move a few units. Regardless of their commercial prospects, Trail of Dead strike an agreeable balance here between structure and chaos, melody and fury.