Deadly good

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead's 2002 album Source Tags and Codes was a violent, aggressive and impossibly dense album, yet it was crafted with enough intelligence and true pain to receive the highest accolades from the hipster community.

The band’s furious live performances have helped them craft an image as a true rock band—a dying art form in a world where an appearance on The O.C. can guarantee rocketing album sales.

It's been three years since their last full-length release, and the Trail of Dead have spent this time trying to figure out how to one-up themselves. The result: There is Worlds Apart is an instantly accessible, though uneven, album.

Despite its pretentious beginning—the opening track, “Overture” features a multilayered gospel choir in Egyptian—the next track, “Will You Smile Again,” checks the band’s ambition. Its open-faced, honest plea would careen down the dreaded emo avenue if not for its steady, bombastic bass drum. Together with the shockingly catchy title track and the piano-driven “Summer 91,” Worlds Apart is indeed separated from this rock band's past.

The album dips with the repetitive-sounding “And the Rest Will Follow” and “Caterwaul.” Just as the album begins to bore, though, it comes roaring back with the surging duel guitars of “Classic Art Showcase.” “Let it Dive,” an echoing song reminiscent of Oasis, lacks the intensity of most of the album, but is resurrected by its enchanting chorus: “Let it fade out of sight / Let it drag us down / Let it fade” and becomes one of the album's brightest points. Of the last four songs, the only truly successful one is the urgent, passionate, soaring “All White,” which is less than two minutes long.

There is Worlds Apart, nonetheless, is a good rock album, with half-great tracks and half filler. Its best moments are its most honest as well as its largest departures from Source Tags and Codes. With this album, …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead stands strong as one of the few genuine rock bands still playing.