...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead / Maybeshewill @ The Liquid Room, 13 October

Live Review by Darren Carle | 16 Oct 2012

Walking in to Leicester post-rockers Maybeshewill is a thunderous experience. Commanding attention with their skull-shaking bass sound, muscular riffage and the on-stage kinetic energy of the quintet ensures that they make their mark on the crowd from the off. Ending with the Peter Finch-sampling, call-to-arms of Not for Want of Trying further solidifies their intensity.

...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead know which side their bread is buttered on. It has been almost twelve years and six subsequent albums since the Texan rockers last graced the Liquid Room, yet that interim is betrayed by tonight's setlist. Eschewing the bulk of their latter output, it’s a show that plants its feet firmly at their artistic peak, from Madonna through Source Tags & Codes and the divisive Worlds Apart.

Though they despatch two tracks from new album Lost Songs with little fanfare, lead single Up To Infinity comes across remarkably incisive, an adrenaline shot from safe hands. From there it’s cream-skimmed classic after classic with a masterful and edifying Perfect Teenhood hitting an atmospheric high, its fist-clenching ‘fuck you’ coda particularly invigorating. An encore seems on the cards, yet a disappointingly strict curfew sees Richter Scale Madness scored off the sheet. A frustrating finish to an otherwise rare occasion. [Darren Carle]

Lost Songs is released via Richter Scale/Superball Music on 22 Oct http://www.trailofdead.com