There are certain things you can count on from a new …Trail Of Dead release: psychedelic artwork, ornate arrangements, restlessly creative punk-prog… and a certainty that it won’t quite hit the highs of their first three, utterly mind-blowing albums. For this 11th offering, the Texans made the most of the unexpected schedule-clearing of the plague years to theorise about their favourite records and take their time to create something with a classic feel, in the laidback environs of a barn used by hippy bands half a century earlier. The result is a lengthy opus which drifts through 73 minutes of typically interstellar art-rock. This stream of consciousness vibe recalls the sequencing of 1999’s career-best Madonna, albeit in less concise form. Indeed, ...