Plenty of bands like to yammer on about how their newest record is a “return to their roots,” as if some undiscovered brilliance is to be found and resurrected on early demos and basement jam sessions. But in the case of . . . And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead a return to form could be just what the doctor ordered. The band’s 2002 album, Source Tags and Codes, sparked a near universal rock-critic orgasm – after that, how could their two follow-up efforts match up? By tearing the band back to its core duo, separating itself from its major label ties, and spunking a prog-punk masterpiece that’ll send all the skinny-jeaned mathematicians back to their Rush albums hoping to mine some soul. The Century Of Self is epic – and was clearly made without the gimlet eye of a major label A&R person overseeing it. From the soaring “Giants Causeway,” to the album’s closer, “Insatiable Two,” which starts off with the sounds of a demented circus and ends with an echoing sing-along about Conrad Keely’s lack of monstrosity, The Century Of Self is a work of tremendous scope and ambition. Meta? Maybe. Amazing? You bet.