|
User
Reviews 15
Approval 90%
Soundoffs 136
News Articles 16
Band Edits + Tags 118
Album Edits 69
Album Ratings 3197
Objectivity 77%
Last Active 02-25-21 1:37 am
Joined 11-25-15
Review Comments 21,089
| | Is This Thing Cursed Ranked | | 13 |  | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
Pale Blue Ribbon - It extremely rules when i’m listening to it but is the only song i kinda forget when the albums done, partially due to how short it is and unlike similar songs on the album it kinda feels a little unfinished. That said, it’s still a blast of fun with great lyrics and a fantastic riff. | | 12 | | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
Goodbye Fire Island - Really cool concept for a song, and the octave vocals all throughout compliment the ominous feel of the instrumental perfectly. There’s like 1-2 clunkers of lyrics in there and Matt occasionally sounds kinda tired in the prechorus (notably on “white meat festival, yeah”) but that’s not enough to drag down how tight everything else is. | | 11 | | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
Worn So Thin - could be Dan’s most aggressive song yet. Lyrics rule, chorus rules, bridge is cool, the whole song is structured really well as far as when it shifts to half time. The only real problem is just thats it’s wedged in between 4 of the best songs they’ve written maybe ever, so it took a few listens for it to,really hit me how good it is. | | 10 | | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
Blackbird - perfect single choice for the album. Matt and Dan’s guitar work play off each other really well while Derek barrels through with his usual insane amounts of power. Matts chorus is maybe his best since Crimson (until you’ve heard some other songs on this album) all in all making their best leadoff single in a while | | 9 | | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
Demon and Division - another song where the verses kind of lack in comparison to the chorus/bridge but that’s thanks to how incredible both are. Except this song is also a showcase of how brilliant Dan and Derek are on the album. The drumming is the perfect blend of tasteful and crazy proficient, and Dan’s bassline basically drives the song. Also shoutout his incredible bridge that make me wish Alkaline did more dual vox in the first place. | | 8 | | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
Stay - sort of a love letter to the band, this takes the heartwarming vibe of This Addiction’s “Fine” and kicks it to the nth degree, with maybe his best chorus since 100 Stories. | | 7 | | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
Little Help - while “Stay” is probably the better song, i love this 2 minute blast of fun too much to not put it ahead. This is easily one of the catchiest songs on the album and dan nails his delivery and harms, and even thought it’s pretty repetitive, it manages to change up lyrics and melodies enough to stay constantly fresh until the fucking fantastic ending. | | 6 | | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
Sweet Vampires - a huge throwback to the days of classic 2000s Trio. Derek’s drumming is phenomenal here as even in the low key moments of the verses he still plays with an energy that makes the song feel like it’s going to explode. Matts singing and writing is top notch, especially in the chorus where his range is basically a whole scale. The bridge is also fucking phenomenal, but the real high point is the ending, especially when all the vocal harms come in over Matts riff in one of the albums best call backs to a past Alkaline song. So fucking good | | 5 | | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
Throw Me To the Lions - on the topic of insane hooks, this track is a fucking barn burner and they haven’t written a song like this since maybe Good Mourning. The keys compliment the minor key vibe of the verses perfectly, until the powerhouse of a chorus graced by Matts insane vocal harms, all leading to one of the albums best bridges before a Blink Untitled esque drum breakdown showing how much Derek is nailing the album. Incredible song | | 4 | | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
Heart Attacks - lyrically the albums high point, recalling songs like “While You’re Waiting” and “Trouble Breathing” dealing with the aftermath of a suicide. The chorus is also fantastic, and big shoutout to the songs pacing. It’s basically opposite “Worn So Thin”, where it starts out slower to match the somber tone of the lyrics, picks up steam in the next verse but slows into the chorus again, until the cathartic build from the “Fire Down Below” call back bridge, making the last chorus feel all the more powerful. All of this in like, 2 minutes god this band is so sick. | | 3 | | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
I Can’t Believe - the morose feel of the song propelled by some of Derek’s best drumming in the album really helps the hopelessness of the lyrics hit much harder. Matts deadpan vocal delivery seems to be turning some people off on the track but to me they elevate the tone of it that much more. This is also helped by the fact that basically every single vocal melody on the song is so goddamn good, especially the prechorus. | | 2 | | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
Is This Thing Cursed? - strongly rivals “Cringe” and “This Could Be Love” for the award for best Trio opener, the “Pretty Teeth” esque opening is a gorgeous way to start the album, while Dan delivers some of his best lyrics ever, But after that we get a powerhouse of a song with Matt and Dan singing over each other until the final verse, where they trade off until the finale chorus in which Matt fucking belts in a way he hasn’t done since Good Mourning. Fucking incredible | | 1 | | Alkaline Trio
Is This Thing Cursed?
Krystalline - it’s a fucking crime they made this song so short, because if they hadn’t it could arguably have been their best closer ever. The haunting electronics dance around the stacatto acoustic guitar line beautifully throughout the song, as Matt basically accomplishes all that My Shame is True didnt in like 2 minutes, before the jaw dropping chorus which is basically Matt tearing his fucking throat out and it’s incredible. This all culminates in the powerhouse of a final chorus delivered with an intense conviction that hasn’t been hard from Matt in a long time, before the haunting ambient keys dissolve the song into nothing as one of the best return to forms in recent years comes to a close. | |
onionbubs
09.15.18 | didn’t really feel like reranking all their songs to include the stuff from the new album so i just ranked it on its own. album still extremely owns | SymbolicInTime
09.15.18 | I’d slot Sweet Vampires way higher and Krystalline way lower but not much to argue about oni | onionbubs
09.15.18 | fair i mean krystallines like minute of noise def goes on too long but the actual song part is sooo good. 10-1 are like almost intrrchangeable tbh god this album is so good | SmashIsTheWay94
09.15.18 | Sweet list. Throw me to the lions and heart attacks are probably my top two, followed very closely by most of Dan's songs. Plus Demon and Division which has grown on me with each listen | Iamthe Nightstars
09.15.18 | The vocal melody in the verse of Little Help is so nursery rhyme-ish sounding. They used to be one of my favorites in the genre but I think I maybe just kind of grew out of this band. I still need to hear the second half of the album. | onionbubs
09.16.18 | oh shit feature | decisions
09.16.18 | lol Pale Blue Ribbon is one of the highlights of the album for me. Great chorus and it's brimming with that ironic optimism that Dan's best songs are laced with. Fun list though and still stoked on this record. For me the best songs are Pale Blue Ribbon, is This Thing Cursed?, I Can't Believe, and Heart Attacks. The Trio is back baby. | onionbubs
09.16.18 | yeah i’ve listened to this so much since it dropped its soo good | Gyromania
09.16.18 | Fire Island is top 3 for me | Crawl
09.16.18 | I actually really don't like that the intro fo the opener sounds almost EXACTLY like Pretty Teeth | onionbubs
09.16.18 | i love it partially cos i think it’s an improvement over pretty teeth | SmashIsTheWay94
09.17.18 | pretty teeth vs ITTC is really close but I'd probably go with pretty teeth actually | Crawl
09.17.18 | I just always expect Dan to sing "sit me down", and it's rather annoying that he doesn't. | onionbubs
09.17.18 | i don’t listen to party adjacent that much and have listened to this like 100 times at least so i’m much more used to it lol | Drifter
09.17.18 | Goodbye Fire Island is probably my fav. That chorus 🔥 | DungeonBoy
09.17.18 | love the enthusiasm | onionbubs
09.19.18 | sweet vampires is so fucking good god |
|
