Alexisonfire – Old Crows / Young Cardinals

By paul

The first time I heard this record I straight away went back to the self-titled album and gave that a spin. Not because I didn’t like ‘Old Crows / Young Cardinals’, but because I wanted to go back and re-emphasise, in my own mind, just how much this band has grown. I remember being blown away by that first record when I first heard it. It was the soundtrack to a very snowy winter, whichever year it was, and I remember the bleak weather and the three-way vocal annihilation on that record just matched the mood perfectly. Looking back and that record hasn’t aged all that well. The production is tinny and everything just seems flatter. It’s still a good record, but when you compare it to Alexisonfire circa-2009, there’s just no comparison. ‘Old Crows / Young Cardinals’ is their best work yet. It’s the sound of a band maturing and growing up, but it’s also the sound of a band becoming awesome songwriters, unafraid to break the mould and move on. It would be so easy to simply fall back and rehash ‘Crisis’, but that would have been far, far too easy. Instead the band have stuck the knife into a dying genre and breathed life into a new one. As the band sing on the first track, “we are not the kids we used to be.”

Compared to that first album ‘Old Crows / Young Cardinals’ sounds like a different band. The screaming has been pulled back and is only used sparingly. Wade, George and Dallas have never sounded better. Infact Wade MacNeil actually sings more, it seems, on this album than any other. The guitars are much cleaner and less distorted than the previous albums too. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a pop album. But everything has been refined this time round. There’s more of a punk rock sound – the riffs are still dark and heavy, just in a different way. And it works really well.

‘Old Crows’ is rapidly becoming my new favourite AOF track as the guitars rumble in the build up and Dallas Green takes us into one of the album’s catchier moments. The lead-in to the energetic and assertive ‘Young Cardinals’ is seamless and perfect. ‘No Rest’ and ‘Emerald Street’ continue the up-tempo, quicker tracks. But this album is certainly diverse and even the slower tracks fail to ruin the album’s flow. ‘The Northern’ and ‘Burial’ both work brilliantly and come in at the perfect time. The tracklisting is almost perfect in that aspect.

It will be interesting to watch the fan reaction to ‘Old Crows / Young Cardinals’ as it certainly signifies the start of a new era for the band. It’s a great record and, after weeks of listening, is still growing on me. I’m hopeful this record will keep dropping little subtle parts as I keep listening. It seems to be just one of those albums. And if nothing else, it dispels any myths that Alexisonfire are a one trick pony.

Screamo is dead. Bring on a new musical revolution.

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