The most anticiapted release of the year? Well maybe not THE most, but it’s certainly one that I was drooling over. I resisted downloading anything that featured on the net and waited patiently until my press copy arrived before I got all gooey over the latest Alk3 concoction. Then when it did drop through my letterbox it clicked into the stereo and has hardly left since – but it does it compare to their legendary older material?
The answer – no. As good a record as ‘Good Mourning’ is, it’s no ‘Maybe I’ll Catch Fire’. There’s something missing, a passion and fire that those records have embellied deep in their souls and something that the last album, ‘From Here To Infirmary’, lacked. While this new album is certainly an improvement on that breakthrough last record, it doesn’t quite measure up to the immensely high standards of the old stuff. It’s difficult to pin down exactly why because this is a complex, dark record after all. The most noticeable feature about ‘Good Mourning’ is Matt’s vocals – broken down and scarred, it was well documented that he had many problems with his voice during the recording. To be honest the croaky-style works very well throughout as he pushes everything to the max. On many of the songs it sounds like at any point he could quite literally break. Opener ‘This Could Be Love’ emphasises this really, really well as he pushes his way through the verses before the memorable “step one: slit my throat..” chorus. It’s perhaps the closest thing on the record to a ‘Private Eye’, certainly in my mind anyway.
‘We’ve Had Enough’ is the album’s first single and until the “please turn that fucking radio off” refrain is ironically the song which is immediately easy on the ear. Featuring bells and a punishing guitar riff it will have you singing along, guaranteed. Dan Andriano’s first song is ‘One Hundred Stories’ which is a good song even if it does sound a little too familiar, while things get back to normal with the dark ‘Continental’. Of course the lyrics will no doubt be subjected to much scrutiny by Alk3 fans far and wide and on the whole they are as descriptive and colourful as ever. One of the better tracks is ‘Emma’, a song that really works well when Matt’s vocals cut through Dan’s like a stake to the heart. The guitar line to ‘Every Thug Needs A Lady’ is great stuff and a big thumbs up must also go to the excellent artwork which certainly adds something to the dark atmosphere that ‘Good Mourning’ gives off anyway.
On the downside the album doesn’t really try anything too different. A friend described it as ‘boring’ and while I wouldn’t quite go that far I do sense that I won’t be listening to this record three or four years down the line like I do with the older albums. There’s nothing as classy as ‘Radio’ or even ‘Bleeder’ and that to me is disappointing. ‘Fatally Yours’ sounds far too familiar, even if it is a good song, while ‘Blue Carolina’ is another good song which could so easily have been great. Maybe I have expected too much, but this is Alk3 and we all know just how good they are.
‘Good Mourning’ is a good record, but not a great one. Having received the re-released versions of ‘Maybe I’ll catch Fire’ and ‘Goddamnit’ on the same day, this doesn’t compare. It is better than ‘FHTI’ though, rawer, darker and certainly less poppy. Definitely worthy of purchasing if you’re a fan, just be warned that this just isn’t quite as good as we all know that Matt, Dan and Derek are capable of.
www.alkalinetrio.com
Paul