Some music begs to be explored. Promising fascination and intrigue beyond your wildest dreams, its distant melodies beckon you towards it while you try your very best to discern every distinct element that presents itself to you. As you get closer and closer, you begin to relax, letting yourself become completely enveloped by the entrancing tones.

Of course, it's all a trap. Just as you begin to lose yourself, you become vaguely aware that the sound that soothingly beckoned you has now transformed into something vastly different-- something powerful, dangerous, and merciless. What was so beautiful at a safe distance is still beautiful, but what was once tranquil and peaceful has metamorphosed into a vicious, violent glory. Before you can even respond, you're flat on your back, pulverized by its sheer force.

Making music that is both delicate and dangerous requires a level of skill that most musicians can barely even fathom. While some bands, like the Microphones, succeed at capturing the simultaneous beauty and rage of nature, what And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead have encapsulated on their third full-length, Source Tags and Codes, is something distinctly human. Anger has always played a central role in the band's music, but with this record, they've finally managed to capture all the subtle shades of disappointment, melancholy, frustration and hope that often accompany it.

Of course, capturing all this with music is no small feat. Source Tags and Codes is massive in its execution, bursting with layered percussion, deftly arranged strings and, most importantly, songs that are simply epic. "It Was There That I Saw You" opens the album with squealing static and a clean guitar playing a simple, tickling figure. There's a palpable sense of excitement as the song suddenly explodes into a frenetic blast of crashing cymbals, screeching guitars, and thumping bass. Amidst the swell of sound, Conrad Keely's voice takes on a sharp, almost crystalline quality that cuts through the mix with biting force.

"Another Morning Stoner" mimics "It Was There That I Saw You" in its opening moments, but rather than exploding with pure energy, it builds slowly and deliberately to an absolutely astonishing finale. Melodic guitar lines ricochet back and forth, brought to new sonic elevations by soaring string arrangements. The call-and-response section that finishes the song, in which two members of the band exchange the phrases, "What is forgiveness?/ It's just a dream/ What is forgiveness?/ It's everything," is one of many absolutely indelible moments on Source Tags and Codes.

"Baudelaire" follows the haunting "Another Morning Stoner" with a blast of pure rock and roll. Catchy and incredibly sinister, "Baudelaire" builds upon a central, immensely powerful guitar and trumpet riff with handclaps, driving percussion, and barely audible voices engaged in conversation. Eventually, the song trails off into a single submerged guitar line accentuated by reverb-soaked bells.

Just as the hypnotic ending to "Baudelaire" pulls you into a trance, "Homage" picks you up by the hair, smacks you around, spits in your face, and leaves you gasping for breath, before imploding into a symphony of static. "How Near How Far" and "Heart in the Hand of the Matter" are the highlights of Source Tags and Codes' center, utterly alive with energy and texture. "How Near How Far" uses vocal harmonies and strings to reinforce a sense of violent melancholy, and the unforgettable chorus to "Heart in the Hand of the Matter" ("I'm so damned, I can't win") is enlivened by the contrast between gritty guitars and clear, ringing piano.

After another expertly produced segue, "Monsoon" pulls together the rock swagger of "Baudelaire" and the sentimentality of "Heart in the Hand of the Matter" to wonderful effect. The songwriting on Source Tags and Codes is inconceivably elegant-- never predictable, but never gratuitously dissonant. Parts of songs wind seamlessly into each other, each one full of brilliant sonic nuances that are every bit as compelling when taken as part of the entire song as when examined individually. Fragmented feedback heralds the arrival of "Days of Being Wild," a song that hosts some of the most creative instrumental interplay to grace this album, before building to yet another utterly awe-inspiring finale.

Source Tags and Codes is an album big on finales-- thus, it makes sense that its three final tracks are quite possibly its best. "Relative Ways," which was released earlier this year as a single, is the most exquisitely constructed song here. Conrad Keely's voice breaks and spits as he pleads, "It's okay/ I'm a saint/ I forgave/ Your mistakes." An unexpected chord shift heightens the dramatic tension of the song just in time for it to return to its original theme and fade into "After the Laughter," the only segue on Source Tags and Codes to be given its own track. A stunning concoction of dreamy vocal harmonies, radio noises, pianos and strings, "After the Laughter" is wonderful in its own right, but taking into account the fact that the song perfectly bridges the melodies of "Relative Ways" and the album's closer, "Source Tags and Codes," it seems utterly brilliant.

As with any epic album, Source Tags and Codes demands an epic closer, and the record's title track delivers masterfully. Both a lyrical and melodic high point, "Source Tags and Codes" captures the complex emotions of the album in a brief glimpse of pure paradoxical beauty. A perfect arrangement of the guitars, piano, strings, bells, and percussion that help make this record so intricate and powerful, the song sounds almost like a bittersweet reunion with old friends. A few seconds after last guitar has faded, a string ensemble plays a brief, gorgeous piece that is at once hopeful and somber. The strings end in unison on a single note, which is sustained for a few moments before fading out. The impact is immediate: you know without a moment's doubt that you have just heard something that is absolutely classic.

And while Source Tags and Codes does seem to carry with it a certain knowledge of its own brilliance, it never tries to cheaply impress. Simply put, it doesn't need to. Dense, beautiful, intricate, haunting, explosive, and dangerous, this is everything rock music aspires to be: intense, incredible songs arranged perfectly and performed with skill and passion. Source Tags and Codes will take you in, rip you to shreds, piece you together, lick your wounds clean, and send you back into the world with a concurrent sense of loss and hope. And you will never, ever be the same.

-Matt LeMay, March 1st, 2002