Alkaline Trio - Agony & Irony (2008)

Their sixth album is their furthest removed from their original sound. It's far more accessible, and ready for mainstream rock radio than their best work, but it has some songs worth hearing. "Help Me" is a catchy single. "Into the Night" is probably the best song here, and bassist Dan Andriano's four tracks are all solid, especially "In Vein," and "Do You Want to Know." Corey Apar from AMG.com writes: "it's a little hard not to wish for more of that edgy bitterness to creep back into the songs, roughing things up a bit and adding some excitement to the mix. The album is still enjoyable and damn catchy in spots — but knowing as much as we do about this talented trio, it seems like it could have been so much better." That sums it up.

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Alkaline Trio - This Addiction (2010)

I have mixed feelings about this album. Alkaline Trio are a band I have loved since I first heard them 7 years ago. Their first four albums are absolutely perfect in my mind, as are their two b-sides compilations. They combined catchy pop-punk with a macabre sense of humor with a very fun effect. From their fifth album, Crimson (2005), energy was sacrificed when they decided to begin experimenting with keyboards and the punk energy that characterized their early music was all but gone on their sixth album, Agony & Irony (2008), so I was thrilled when I read they wanted to go back to their punk roots on the new album. They didn’t really do that, in fact about half of these songs sound as though they would fit on their underwhelming 2008 album.

First the positive. This is better than Agony & Irony. This is more like their earlier stuff, without actually being like it, if that makes sense. Some of these songs are very catchy, such as “Lead Poison,” “This Addiction,” “Piss and Vinegar,” and “Dead on the Floor” which is a great slower song. Matt Skiba’s voice sounds great. He’s a highly emotive vocalist and I love hearing him sing. The band still sounds good, technically. That means that I won’t regret spending $58 on two tickets to see them live in March. If they play a bunch of old songs, which they usually do, then they will sound pretty much like Alk3 circa 2003. There are no obvious signs of age, wear and tear, or lost enthusiasm. The brass section on “Lead Poison” is a nice touch, and shows that they aren’t complacent with their sound.

There are a few issues I have with this album. First, the lyrics. The band has a great sense of humor, but some of these lyrics are a bit cliché. Second, it sounds more like they were trying to recreate their old sound than an actual revisitation of that sound. They’re playing similar melodies at similar tempos but with a different attitude, so it comes across differently. It just lacks something their early material had. Their melodies had a certain momentum back then they don’t have now. I think they rushed this album, but over a half dozen listens it has started to grow on me. At the end of the day this is a decent album from a band I love. It’s hard to hear musicians who are important to you change, but the change could have been much, much worse. They are still Alkaline Trio, and are still great, and This Addiction is a fine album that doesn’t measure up to their awesome earlier albums.

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