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Alkaline Trio

Agony & Irony EP

Written by: PP on 16/05/2008 12:48:26

Hands up who aren\'t as excited for the upcoming Alkaline Trio record in July as they were for \"Crimson\" before it was released? You can count my hand as one vote, considering how little \"Crimson\" did for me in comparison to anything else these guys have released. Granted, it wasn\'t a bad album at all, but just light years from the greatness of everything else they had written. Somehow, the melancholic epic sound deteriorated the best quality of Alkaline Trio - their ability to write insanely catchy melodic punk rock with a brilliantly miserable lyrical universe disguised underneath joyous singing and happy melodies. So can you blame me for not being excited for their next album, which on top of all things is being released on a major label this time around? Well, after listening to their three-song teaser EP \"Agony & Irony\", you can scratch that thought and see me camping with the excited people again.

And here\'s why. \"In Vein\", \"Help Me\" and \"Into The Night\" will all appear on the full length album, and all showcase a radical direction change from \"Crimson\" from the very first notes. The soundscapes are tighter as opposed to being colossal and epic, and as a direct effect of that the choruses sound more meaningful and ultimately, much more catchy than they did on \"Crimson\".

\"Help Me\" is a mid-tempo song paying homage to \"Maybe I\'ll Catch Fire\"-era songs. Matt Skiba\'s vocals see a return to the tone variation, where he raises his voice high at the end of lines, creating some more of those magic Alkaline Trio moments that all their fans talk about. \"In Vein\", has a bit of an unconventional rhythm for being a Alk3 song, but Matt/Dan vocal combination gives the bouncy song the right feel, although it\'s clear that the track is easily the weakest on the EP. That\'s not surprising, considering it aligns itself to \"Crimson\" closest out of the three as well. That small slip up is countered by \"Into The Night\", the best Alkaline Trio song since \"Armageddon\", at least if you don\'t count songs from \"Remains\" as new songs. Welcome back the fast rhythm, the oh-so-depressive lyrics dressed in a happy, melodic punk rock outfit, and the awesomely tight songwriting the band\'s fans have counted on for years now.

Three songs might not be enough to warrant a purchase especially when they will all be on the record to be released in just a few months from now. But nonetheless any Alk3 fan should get these songs now to get properly excited for their (likely) next masterpiece. So my advise is, go download the songs, and wait with buying until the actual record comes out, even though two out of the three songs rock your socks out.

Download: Into The Night
For the fans of: Bayside, GOB, The Bouncing Souls
Listen: Myspace

Release date 22.04.2008
Epic