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Review |
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If you know me well then you will know that asking
me to review a Alkaline Trio release is like asking
me to write a job reference for my best friend as
Alkaline Trio are my favourite band in the world
and have been for about 8 years now. The last full
length Alkaline Trio studio album 'Crimson was released
back in 2005, the album featured songs about Charles
Manson's cult member Sadie Mae Glutz, a song about
the West Memphis Three tragedy where three teenagers
were wrongly convicted of child murders due their
music beliefs and the fact they wore black, despite
featuring songs about murder the album saw Alkaline
Trio take on a more poppy side whilst keeping to
their dark edge, the album was loved by the media
and had a mixed reaction from fans with most fans
enjoying it in the end.
It’s been just over 3 years since 'Crimson'
was released and Alkaline Trio are now back with
their sixth studio album 'Agony And Irony', the
album also happens to be the first Alkaline Trio
album released on a major label, the band previewed
their new single 'Help Me' on myspace a few months
ago and the song is a sing out loud radio friendly
poppy punk song where Matt pretty much sings his
lungs out during the catchy yet repetitive chorus
of "Help me, help me wont you, sing me, sing
me one last song, help me, help me, somebody help
me save me from myself", the song features
lots of "la,la,la" which also adds majorly
to the radio friendliness of the song. When I
first heard 'Help Me' I was impressed with what
I was hearing but at the same I was thinking that
'Agony And Irony' was going to be a really poppy
album, everyone has these thoughts when their
favourite band signs to a major label and especially
when their last album was verging on the poppy
territories, well lucky this isn’t the case
with Alkaline Trio and 'Agony And Irony', yes
the album does have poppy moments, which is mainly
due to the raw sound from the bands earlier days
being completely stripped out to make way for
a more polished fast punk sound, but at the same
time the music is thick and loud especially the
guitar riffs.
The album starts off poppy with 'Calling All
Skeletons', the song is full of catchy hooks and
Matt Skibas’ vocals are fast and melodic
straight from the start, Matt's vocals sound a
lot different here than they have on other alkaline
Trio material in the past, they sound a bit too
polished and melodic but it’s not a bad
thing as after a couple of listens you forget
about that and the song becomes extremely enjoyable
and proves to be a perfect opening track.
It’s easy to see that Alkaline Trio haven’t
been afraid to experiment with different sounds
and styles here, the biggest change in sound appears
with 'In Vein' the song is one of the main highlights
from the album and starts off sounding like a
ska song with its opening riffs and fast drums
rolls, bassist Dan Andriano has lead vocals throughout
the song and his vocals sounding better than ever,
that’s the good thing about alkaline Trio,
Matt and Dan share lead vocal duties and both
have such distinctive vocals, Matt’s vocals
can change in style and sound good no matter what
and Dan's vocals have a raw edge that makes them
so listenable. The song also features lots of
"woah, woah" backing vocals which is
a pure fan pleaser.
I know im going to get shot down for this comment
but the opening of 'Over And Out' sounds like
the kind of spacey sounding introduction that
Angels And Airwaves have been creating for the
past couple of years, luckily this only lasts
for a couple of seconds before Dans bass comes
in with quite a soothing bass line which runs
right into the rocking chorus.
'I Found Away' starts off with a really eerie
sounding voice over which lasts for about 15 seconds,
the music for the song soon comes in and happens
to be such a fast up-beat song that features some
odd dance beat style sounds, now this is a sound
and route that alkaline Trio have never taken
before, but they have managed to master it well,
the song sounds big and totally has that major
label feel about it which is okay by me as long
as we don’t get a whole album full of this
sound in the future. The riffs on 'Do you Wanna
Know?' are quite meaty and rocky sounding but
overall the song doesn’t have anything special
going for it.
The main highlight on 'Agony And Irony' is the
rifftastic sounding song 'Live Young, Die Fast'
the song is really rocky and meaty sounding with
its loud guitar riffs, the vocals are slowed down
a notch or two from the more fast pace that the
rest of the album features, the lyrics aren’t
that technical or special but it wont be long
before you find yourself singing along “So
live young, die fast, No one will last, So sit
back and relax, Enjoy the crash that fades into
black and its gone, Live young, die fast, die
fast.”
'Love, Love, Kiss, Kiss' is a really interesting
song and a song that took me many listens to gain
a proper opinion on it, when I first heard the
song I really wasn’t too sure on it but
now I quite like it, the song is quite slow but
does pick up during the chorus where Matt sings
"love, love, kiss, kiss, love, love, love,
your making me sick".
The album finishes with 'Into The Night' and
the opening riff is outstanding and is the riff
that Alkaline Trio have recently started their
gigs with, the song is extremely fast paced and
has catchy yet depressing lyrics. One of the best
things that Alkaline Trio manage to achieve is
to write a lyrically depressing song but play
it so fast and in such a catchy upbeat way that
it disguises the depressiveness and makes everyone
think it’s a happy song.
There are a lot of poppy moments on the album
like I have mentioned but don’t let that
put you off as once the album is on you don’t
really think about the poppyness but instead pick
up on how the guitars have been knocked up a notch
or two in sound and how the band have tried and
conquered different styles such as on 'In Vein',
'Live Young, Die Fast' and 'I Found Away'.
'Agony And Irony' is a great album and has been
worth the 3 year wait, with each and every album
release Alkaline Trio seem to change their sound
slightly and each album takes a few listens to
fully get into to and this is exactly what has
happened with 'Agony And Irony', the album is
a grower, after the first listen you feel not
to sure on it compared to their previous albums
and by the 5th or 6th listen you are fully into
the album and loving the way alkaline Trio's sound
has progressed through the years. This isn’t
my favourite Alkaline Trio album but it is an
interesting and exciting release and is up there
in my top 3 of Alkaline Trio albums with 'Good
Mourning' and 'Maybe Ill Catch Fire' still at
the top.
Being the bands first major album release 'Agony
And Irony' will catapult Alkaline Trio into the
big time and will bring them a whole new fan base,
it will please most of the hardcore fans but I’m
sure a small minority will hate the album but
you can’t please everyone.
5/5
Review by Trigger |
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| Band
Members |
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Matt Skiba (Vocals, Guitar)
Daniel Andriano (Bass, Vocals)
Derek Grant (Drums, Vocals)
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| Track
Listing |
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1. Calling All Skeletons
2. Help Me
3. In Vein
4. Over And Out
5. I Found Away
6. Do You Wanna You
7. Live Young Die Fast
8. Love Love Kiss Kiss
9 . Lost And Rendered
10. Ruin It
11. Into The Night |
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| Band
Related Links |
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| Review
Score Code |
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- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
-
What Was That? |
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