Labels: Asian Man Records
Review by: Russell Opie
Alkaline Trio’s debut album “Goddamnit” was one of the best and most original albums of the decade. So how would their latest effort compare? Lets face it, they had a lot to live up to. That first album was packed full of songs that were perfect in every way.
Well things start off well, with the album opening up with one of my favourite Trio songs ever! “Keep ’em Coming” with its wonderfully clever lyrics, which are now an A3 trademark. Every song they write is bound to inspire you in one way or another and this album is no disappointment on that front. The song is a catchy, melodic punk rock tune with lots of emotion thrown in. And Dan’s vocals are awesome as always!
But this album marks a little bit of a change of direction for the Chicago band – their last album had a more of an abstract, disjointed rock feel to it, where as this is altogether more punky. Musically its more upbeat and flowing. I haven’t decided whether this a good thing or not. But as soon as I begin to have doubts about this record, they all but disappear upon playing “Radio” and “You’ve got so far to go”. Two highly emotional and melodic tracks that pretty much blow me away.
Look, basically all ten songs are of great quality, and there really isn’t one duff track among them. This album consists of songs that are just consisently awesome really. Unfortunately that means it lacks a standout masterpiece of a song. But with the emotional melodic punk rock greatness that is songs like “Maybe I’ll Catch Fire” and “SleepyHead” you would be silly not to pick this up if you are already a fan of the band or if you just dig emotional melodic punk rock.
Rating this purely on its own merits – its an absolutely stunning album. And I can guarentee that this will be in my top ten records of 2000. Thats how genuinely great this is. Go forth and purchase…. you won’t be disappointed.