I have been a fan of Alkaline Trio for about 3 years now, since ’03. I started out with Good Mourning, and now I have all 6 of their full-lengths. I know that pretty much everyone has heard of Alkaline Trio, but I’ll just give a little background info just to get you started. The Trio come right from Chicago, but now live in the L.A. area. Their current members are, Matt Skiba, Daniel Andriano, and Derek Grant. This super fantastic pop-punk band has everything it takes to make it big. They became more popular with the most recent release,
Crimson. This album was released on Asian Man Records in 2000. The band members of that time were Matt Skiba, Daniel Andriano, and Glenn Porter. It was re-released in ’03 with bonus tracks.
Vocals/Lyrics
I will once again start with the vocal part. Matt never had the strongest voice in these years. It was always very shaky and whatnot. But it usually fits the song. Dan, of course has a great voice. In You’ve Got So Far To Go, Dan’s voice is the best ever. It is so beautiful, and it fits the song PERFECTLY. In Keep ‘em Coming, Matt’s voice is very shaky which is a con for me. Sleepyhead…oh my god. Matt is practically screaming the whole song. I mean, it fits real well, but it’s just too much. Towards the end, it stops for a bit when he says “Nothing’ to see here but the rain. There’s nothing to hold you but the flame.” It’s just cooled down a bit, but then it goes back to screaming. Danny’s voice is also perfect for Maybe I’ll Catch Fire. Matt does a little screaming at the end of Tuck Me In. Not good. Matt’s voice is better in Radio, one of my favorite songs. Now onto lyrics. Keep ‘em Coming mostly talks about how Matt was going through a hard time I guess breaking up with his ex-significant other and how he’s dealing with it.
Quote:
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Originally Posted by ”Keep ‘em Coming”
Sad, sorry excuse. Just like everything that made her smile and everything I use. I won’t go back to the way it was. I’m now huffing gas and sniffing paint, to take away this buzz that I call you.
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Maybe I’ll Catch Fire is one of the greatest songs on the album, lyrically, in my opinion. It’s just the chorus that really gets me into an “Oh muh gahd, this is a fantastic song.”
Quote:
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Originally Posted by ”Maybe I’ll Catch Fire”
And maybe I’ll catch fire. Something warm to hold me. Something pure to burn away the darkness that hides inside my mind. All that evil ***s not hard to find. I guess I only claim to be nice.
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And there ya have it.
Instruments
Danny is so good on bass. He is so rhythmic and fast. You’ve Got So Far To Go is one of the coolest bass lines ever. Very melodic and happy sounding, which is pretty much the sound of the song. *** You Aurora is a good example. It’s got a good line, and sounds great with the song. Now, this one might be a slower song, but Dan can be very fast with his guitar playing. Matt’s guitar playing is good, as always. In Madam Me, it sounds very neat and the guitar is put to good use. Sleepyhead, geez, both bass and guitar sound a little bit funky, but cool. Radio is of course the main song on this cd. Guitar sounds great with the little riff, and its just beautiful. Glenn is so fast with his drumming and its just so good and…fast. Not much to say about it though. He is always so good, and is very creative. This is really all I have to say about this song.
Some Interesting Songs
Madam Me is one of the weirdest songs on the cd. But it is one of the most creative. It starts out with a normal intro and goes into the jumpy verse. It starts completely normal with “The sunrise…” with normal drumming, guitar, and bass. On “Fills your eyes…”, the drums go all toms and bass drum instead of hi-hats and snares. On “Cannot hear your cries…” its still all toms and bass drum along with a neat bass riff. Then a regular, normal sounding song. The next verse is pretty much the same. Toms, bass drum, bass riff…but then in the third part it has a really interesting guitar palm mute. It makes the song sound really cool and interesting, and I love it. Last verse, the guitar is just held. First part, guitar held, normal sounding. Second part, guitar held, toms and bass drum. Third part, guitar is quickly muted for that neat riff. Then the song goes on like all the rest, and then finishes. This is one of the most creative songs on the album, which is certainly a plus.
All in all, this is the greatest Alkaline Trio cd, in my opinion with no flaws whatsoever, except for Matt’s voice. But that’s not a big problem. I give this a 5/5, 10/10, 100/100 hands down. Great job by the Trio.
