On the road, the band will be supporting its sixth studio album, "The Century of Self," which hits stores Feb. 17. The set, produced by Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, !!!) is the group's first since leaving the Interscope label following 2006's "So Divided."

"On the last two albums, we were really meticulous recording to click-tracks and doing overdubs," frontman Conrad Keely told Billboard.com last summer. "This time, we threw all that out. We learned the songs and all tracked live."

Allen, who recently moved from his native Austin, TX, to New York City, added that exposure to a fresh crop of local music inspired his songwriting for the new album. "Suddenly I was almost overloaded with all this new music, and wondering how we could come close to matching it," he said. "That inspiration came into a lot of the writing."

Trail of Dead released a four-song EP, "Festival Thyme," in October. Two of the EP's songs, "Bells of Creation" and "Inland Sea," are included on "Century" in alternate versions.