The Alkaline Trio. Not a band that I have to say I’m particularly familiar with. But I assure you, give this CD a good listen, and it will leave you begging for more. A lot more…
Signed to emo label Vagrant, home of The Get Up Kids and No Motiv to name but two, the Alkaline Trio should be a lot more well known than they are. But they won’t be punk’s best kept secret for much longer if they continue to reproduce long-players of this quality. It’s all power-chord riffs, interwoven with some imaginitive basslines and solid percussion. And when Daniel Andriano sings, you know he’s been pissed off, and you know he means it. Think The Ataris and The Get Up Kids mixed with Blink and New Found Glory. Possibly the perfect emo/punk hybrid around.
Before listening to this, I’d only ever heard one Alkaline Trio track, the most excellent ‘Crawl.’ But I can safely say that this album is full of classics. Fans of the band have criticised the Trio for going a bit poppier and cleaner with this release, and having not heard their previous albums I cannot comment. But they must be pretty special.
Opener ‘Private Eye’ is pretty full-on and instant, whilst ‘Mr Chainsaw’ is catchy, yet seems very familiar on first listen. Not that it has all been heard before, far from it, it’s just so instant. ‘Take Lots Of Alcohol,’ is another standout, with a great chugging intro riff, and some crashing drums.
‘Stupid Kid’ is amazing. Simple, yet oh-so effective, this is the Alkaline Trio at their very best. ‘Another Innocent Girl’ slows the pace down slightly and isn’t the best track on the album, but at the same time isn’t really too bad. ‘Steamer Trunk’ is also slightly weak, but is still a song that many bands would kill for.
‘You’re Dead’ and more significantly ‘Armageddon’ see the band return to top form, the latter really picking up the pace, with the drumming arguably as fast as anything on the new Blink 182 record. ‘I’m Dying Tomorrow’ and ‘Bloodied Up’ are dark and twisted for pop-punk, but work really well.
But it’s the final track, ‘Crawl,’ which is, for me, one of the songs of the year so far. Typically emo, there is not one bad thing about this track. It is just utterly superb. Somebody has obviously hurt Mr Andriano, but if he continues to come up with songs as good as this, then I hope someone hurts him more often.
In short, this is the best band you’ve never heard of. If you like The Ataris, you’ll adore this record. Watch out for this lot, they’re gonna be big. Real big.
Paul Savage.